NRF-Supported Plaintiffs to Take Redistricting Lawsuit to Missouri Supreme Court

Washington, D.C. – Today, plaintiffs supported by the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) submitted a notice of appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court in Healey v. Missouri, a legal challenge to Missouri’s mid-decade gerrymander, arguing that the new map violates Missourians’ right to vote in compact congressional districts—a right guaranteed by the state constitution. The plaintiffs are appealing a recent lower court decision that wrongfully upheld Missouri’s mid-decade gerrymander. A ruling by the state supreme court in this case could determine Missouri’s congressional map for the 2026 midterms.

“The mid-decade gerrymander drawn by Missouri Republicans brazenly violates the state’s compactness requirement by slicing Kansas City apart and failing to unite closely connected communities, despite decades of Missouri Supreme Court precedent,” said Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF). “The lower court’s decision ignores clear legal precedent and rubber-stamps a mid-decade gerrymander that blatantly violates the Missouri Constitution. The Missouri Supreme Court must strike down this egregious new gerrymander.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Following the 2020 Census, the MissouriHouse andSenate rejected congressional gerrymanders that would have carved up Kansas City, and instead enacted a map that maintained the core of Kansas City in its own district, as had been the case for over a century.

However, in July 2025, public reports indicated that President Trump began pressuring Missouri Republicans to enact an unlawful mid-decade gerrymander to create another Republican-leaning district by splitting the 5th congressional district, which encompassed most of Kansas City. Despite receiving calls from constituents expressing overwhelming opposition and voters voicing their disagreement during committee hearings in both chambers, lawmakers in the Missouri House and Senate passed the proposed gerrymander, and Governor Kehoe signed the new map into law. 

Immediately after the enactment of the new gerrymander, the NRF-supported plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in state court, arguing two claims: 1) that the map is an unconstitutional mid-decade redistricting, and 2) that the new map violates Missourians’ right to vote in compact congressional districts—a right guaranteed by the state constitution. 

In February 2026, a trial was held before the Circuit Court of Jackson County on the non-compactness claim. In March, that court issued a decision upholding Missouri’s gerrymander and allowing it to be used in the 2026 midterm elections. Now, the NRF-supported plaintiffs are set to appeal that decision to the Missouri Supreme Court. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here. 

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