In a ruling that echoes the broader national struggle over who holds power and how that power perpetuates itself, a federal appeals court has upheld Missouri's Republican-drawn congressional map, finding no constitutional violation in boundaries that critics say were designed to dilute Democratic votes. The decision, itself divided along partisan lines, clears a path toward the Supreme Court — an institution that has long hesitated to draw firm limits on partisan gerrymandering. What hangs in the balance is not merely one state's map, but the question of whether democracy's machinery can be tu