Two lawsuits challenging Missouri’s new congressional district map have been heard for a second time by the State Supreme Court. The cases returned to the high court after the map was upheld two weeks ago by a Cole County judge.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs continued their arguments that the district drawn on the so-called Grand Compromise Map fails the state constitution’s compactness requirement. One of them, Jamie Barker Landes, criticized the new 5th district, which lumps three rural GOP-leaning counties with urban Jackson County, while also adding a slice of Jackson County onto the rural northern Missouri district.
“It’s time to end the practice of dividing Jackson County up like a sausage the way it is. Our citizens ought to be able to look at this map and say, ‘yeah, that looks as compact as may be.’”
Attorneys defending the map argued that it’s not possible for everyone to agree on what is or is not compact. The High Court will rule on the suits later.