Emanuel Cleaver

“Instead of addressing a single subject, tied to a single article in the Missouri Constitution, [the petition] makes sweeping reforms affecting multiple provisions of the Missouri Constitution,” Green wrote in his decision.

The legal fight stems from a congressional map approved by Missouri lawmakers last year that drew opposition from Democrats and voting-rights groups. One group, People Not Politicians, gathered more than 300,000 signatures in an effort to force a veto referendum on the map. Under Missouri law, voters can challenge enacted legislation through a referendum if supporters gather enough signatures and subsequently win a majority of votes in a statewide election.

However, Hoskins rejected the referendum petition this month, prompting the legal challenge over whether the signatures should have halted implementation of the congressional map. Following the rejections, Missouri used the GOP-backed map in its primary elections.

Plaintiff Richard von Glahn swiftly appealed the ruling Wednesday evening, according to the court docket.

Gov. Mike Kehoe (R-MO) called lawmakers into a special legislative session last year to consider redrawing the state’s congressional districts at the behest of President Donald Trump. Kehoe signed the new map into law in September, splitting portions of Kansas City among three congressional districts and adding Republican-leaning areas to Cleaver’s district.

BY THE NUMBERS: HOW MANY SEATS HAS EACH PARTY GAINED IN REDISTRICTING?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri argued in a lawsuit that submitting the referendum signatures should have suspended the map before it took effect in December 2025. A lower court rejected that argument in March, siding with the state’s position that “a referendum does not suspend legislation upon mere submission.”