JEFFERSON CITY – A Cole County judge upheld Missouri’s congressional redistricting map on Friday, rejecting two lawsuits that argued the map did not meet constitutional requirements.

Circuit Judge Daniel Green dismissed plaintiff’s arguments that the map’s districts were not sufficiently compact, concluding that the constitution did not call for a "never-ending game of one-upmanship in a constant search for the ultimate map."

One of the two lawsuits focused exclusively on the new 5th District, which is currently held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. The district runs from the Missouri-Kansas border in Kansas City eastward along Interstate 70 into rural Saline County.

Green originally ruled against the lawsuits last month, but the Missouri Supreme Court then ordered additional legal review. Plaintiffs now have the option of once again appealing Green’s decision to the Supreme Court.

Candidate filing for the 2012 elections is set to begin Feb. 28.

At issue is the fact that Missouri is dropping from nine congressional districts to eight because its population growth in the latest U.S. Census did not keep pace with other states. The map was drawn by the Republican-controlled state Legislature over the objection of Gov. Jay Nixon, who vetoed the map and was eventually overridden.