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The Republican judges on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals won’t stop trying to help the GOP hold on to Congress, even if it means defying the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the 8th Circuit again ruled for Missouri Republicans who want to use new, gerrymandered congressional districts in the November election. The decision sought to overturn an order issued by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 8th Circuit was already smacked down by the Supreme Court—twice—for intervening in this lawsuit, which is entirely about state law and not federal law. But the three-judge panel, which includes a couple of Donald Trump appointees and another Republican, ordered Missouri to use the districts that violate state law for a third time. The ruling was swiftly appealed, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh ordered the lawmakers seeking to continue with the GOP’s preferred map to respond by Wednesday afternoon.

In the meantime, the panel has ordered the state to use the new districts for the general election, because the Republican secretary of state used them for the primary. The judges noted that if the districts that comply with state law are used, “more than 1.4 million Missourians could not vote for the congressional district nominees who will appear on their November 2026 general election ballot.”

The panel cited the elections clause of the U.S. Constitution when it created a new right to vote in the same district in both the primary and general elections. But that clause gives states the power only to regulate the “time, place, and manner” of elections.

The ruling radically expands the power of........

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