The Missouri Supreme Court upheld Missouri’s new congressional map in two decisions handed down on Tuesday, just hours after the court heard oral arguments over the cases.
The decisions upheld the validity of the map, which splits Kansas City into three separate districts, and affirmed that until a process to force a statewide vote on the map is complete, the map is not automatically suspended.
The court rejected challenges from two groups of Missouri residents who argued the map violated a section of the Missouri Constitution that requires congressional districts to be “contiguous territory as compact and as nearly equal in population as may be.” Writing for the unanimous court in the case, Chief Justice W. Brent Powell wrote that challengers “failed to show the 2025 map clearly and undoubtedly violates the requirements” of the state constitution.
The 2025 map, enacted by the Missouri legislature through House Bill 1, replaced a congressional map drawn in 2022. Challengers argued the districts were not sufficiently compact and violated the “closely united territory” requirement.