The Missouri Supreme Court upheld a trial court decision on Wednesday finding that Missouri’s state senate congressional map did not violate the state’s constitution. Several Missouri citizens previously challenged the map, drawn by a court-appointed redistricting commission, for failing to preserve communities of interest.

The court rejected the citizens’ challenge in their Wednesday decision, finding that congressional redistricting is “predominately a political question” and “best left to the political leaders, not judges.”

The Missouri Constitution lays out the procedure for creating state house and senate districts. In order to comport with the constitution, the map must contain the following features:

1. Districts shall be as nearly equal as practicable in population, and shall be drawn on the basis of one person, one vote;
2. Districts shall be established in a manner so as to comply with all requirements of the United States Constitution and applicable federal laws;
3. Subject to the requirement of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, districts shall be composed of contiguous territory as compact as may be;
4. To the extent consistent subdivisions (1) to (3) of this subsection, communities shall be preserved; [and]
5. Districts shall be drawn in a manner that achieves both partisan fairnes and, secondly, competitiveness, but the standards established by subdivisions (1) to (4) of this subsection shall take precedence over partisan fairness and competitiveness.

The court found that the constitution listed these features “in order of priority.” This is important because the citizens challenged the map based on its failure to preserve communities of interest the fourth requirement on the list.

Originally, Missouri had relied upon a citizens’ commission to redraw the state’s congressional districts. However, after failing to agree to any maps, the court appointed a judicial commission to the task. The judicial commission used a “mathematical calculation to determine the compactness of the Senate Map and Appellants’ proposed map.” The resulting map split Buchanan County into two separate districts, and Hazelwood into two separate districts—which the citizens claimed violated the communities of interest in the respective areas.

The citizens challenged the map drawn by the court, citing the third and fourth redistricting factors: that the districts shall be compact and that communities shall be preserved. They argued that the factor preserving communities should take precedence over the factor calling for compact districts.

The court disagreed and upheld the map. Because the factor calling for compact districts was listed before the factor that called for communities to be preserved, the former is the more important factor.

Redistricting has been at the center of multiple legal battles across the US since the 2020 census kicked off redistricting efforts. Congressional maps are usually redrawn every 10 years to account for population changes recorded through the census. In September 2023, Alabama’s congressional map was appealed to the US Supreme Court, which struck down the map due to racial gerrymandering. Then, in December 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court found that their state maps were also unconstitutional.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Missouri Supreme Court upheld an appeals court decision. The court upheld a decision from a Missouri circuit court, which are trial courts.