David Stras
US Circuit Judge on the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
On 21 September, David Stras joined an Eighth Circuit panel ordering Missouri to use its 2025 congressional map for November’s election.
Last refreshed: 24 September 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why did 8th Circuit judge David Stras rule Missouri's 2022 map unconstitutional?
Timeline for David Stras
Joined the panel's order
US Midterms 2026: 8th Circuit puts Missouri on 2025 mapBackground
David Stras sits as a federal appellate judge on the Eighth Circuit, hearing appeals from the circuit’s district courts. The 21 September Missouri map ruling shows him exercising that appellate function on a live election dispute.
The Eighth Circuit’s work can directly affect election rules when litigation reaches the federal appeals level. Stras joined judges James Loken and Lavenski Smith in the Missouri decision, which concerned which congressional map the state must use.
For readers following US elections, Stras matters as a federal appellate judge whose panel decisions can shape the rules under which candidates and voters contest an election. That significance follows from the Court role, rather than from a single dispute.
Stras backed Missouri map ruling
On 21 September, David Stras joined an Eighth Circuit panel that ordered Missouri to use House Bill 1, its 2025 congressional map, for November’s election. The ruling found that the state’s 2022 map breached Article I, Section 2. For Stras, the case placed his appellate role at the centre of a live dispute over the map governing a federal election.
The panel paused its own order until 28 September while challengers sought emergency Supreme Court intervention. Missouri had already sent overseas ballots using the earlier map, making the timing of the Court’s ruling a practical issue as well as a constitutional one.
Why did the 8th Circuit side with Missouri's 2025 map?
Who is David Stras?
What happens next in the Missouri map case?
