The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the state’s 2025 congressional redistricting map, rejecting constitutional challenges brought by two groups of Missouri voters who argued the districts violated compactness, contiguity, and equal population requirements under the Missouri Constitution. 

In a lengthy opinion issued in the consolidated cases of Healey v. State of Missouri and Wise v. State of Missouri, the Court affirmed a Jackson County Circuit Court ruling that found challengers failed to meet the heavy burden required to invalidate a legislatively enacted congressional map. 

The litigation centered on House Bill 1, passed by the Missouri General Assembly in 2025, which repealed the congressional map enacted after the 2022 census and replaced it with a newly drawn set of districts. 

The challengers argued the new map violated Article III, Section 45 of the Missouri Constitution, which requires congressional districts to consist of “contiguous territory as compact and as nearly equal in population as may be.” 

Most of the dispute focused on congressional districts 4, 5, and 6 in and around the Kansas City metropolitan area. Plaintiffs contended the map unnecessarily split Kansas City and surrounding communities, undermining compactness and dividing communities of interest. 

The Court, however, repeatedly emphasized that its role in redistricting disputes is limited strictly to constitutional legality rather than political fairness or policy preferences.

“Drawing maps establishing congressional districts is a political process,” the opinion stated, adding that courts are tasked only with deciding whether the districts comply with constitutional requirements. 

The opinion also highlighted that partisan gerrymandering claims were not raised in the litigation and noted that such political questions are generally outside the scope of judicial review under current U.S. Supreme Court precedent. 

During a four-day bench trial, both sides presented expert witnesses and competing statistical analyses regarding compactness. The Court noted experts relied heavily on established compactness metrics including the Reock and Polsby-Popper measures, two of the most commonly used statistical tools in redistricting litigation. 

The circuit court found the 2025 map performed as well as or better than Missouri’s previous congressional maps enacted in 2012 and 2022 under multiple compactness measurements. 

According to the opinion, every district in the 2025 map was more compact than the least compact district in the 2022 map. Districts 4, 5, and 6, the districts specifically challenged in the lawsuits, were found to be as compact or more compact than their counterparts in prior maps that had already survived constitutional scrutiny. 

The Court also noted testimony showing the 2025 map reduced county and municipal splits statewide compared to the prior map. The 2025 map split five counties, compared to nine under the 2022 map, and reduced municipal splits from 31 to 13. 

The opinion specifically addressed Kansas City-area concerns raised during trial, including testimony from Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas regarding “communities of interest.” 

While the Court acknowledged the policy concerns raised by challengers were “understandable,” it concluded those concerns were insufficient to establish the map violated constitutional compactness standards. 

The Court further rejected arguments that the circuit court improperly relied solely on mathematical measures of compactness. Instead, the justices found the lower court appropriately considered the totality of the evidence, including population density, historical maps, municipal boundaries, and expert testimony. 

The opinion also approved the lower court’s reliance on comparisons to earlier congressional maps, particularly the 2012 map previously upheld by the Supreme Court in earlier litigation. 

Ultimately, the Court concluded the challengers failed to prove the 2025 map “plainly and palpably affronts fundamental law embodied in the constitution,” the standard required to strike down a legislatively enacted map. 

The ruling leaves Missouri’s 2025 congressional districts constitutionally intact while separate litigation over the referendum effort against House Bill 1 continues.