The Supreme Court Thursday upheld the partisan gerrymandering that has allowed Republicans to control power in several closely divided states.

A majority ruled that elected lawmakers, not judges, have right to draw the election maps for their states.

The decision is a defeat for reformers who said politicians were unfairly denying voters the right to fair and equal representation.

The decision, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., came on a 5-4 vote, with other conservatives joining him. Roberts said the claims “present political questions beyond reach of the courts.”

In an opinion that seems to close the door on future claims against partisan gerrymandering, Robert said. "We have no legal commission to allocate political power and influence.”

The court’s four liberal justices dissented, warning that new technology has made gerrymandering easier and more precise than ever before.

“These are not your grandfather’s—let alone the framers’—gerrymanders,” said Justice Elena Kagan.

“These gerrymanders dishonored our democracy, turning upside down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people,” she wrote. “These gerrymanders enabled politicians to entrench themselves in offices against the voters' preferences.”

The ruling substantially raises the stakes for the 2020 election. Whichever party controls state legislatures after that vote will be in a prime position to gerrymander electoral districts in their favor and lock in political power for years to come.