A judge ruled in favor of financier Carl C. Icahn.

A Missouri law designed to block Icahn’s unfriendly takeover bid of Trans World Airlines was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge D. Brook Bartlett. The judge said the law violated commerce and supremacy provisions of the U.S. Constitution. The judgment prohibits the state from enforcing the law against out-of-state corporations and non-residents. Missouri quickly enacted the legislation in May to prevent Icahn from gaining a controlling interest in TWA. Icahn had acquired about one-third of TWA’s stock before he was ordered by a state court in St. Louis to stop buying shares in the airline. The order was lifted June 13, one day before TWA reported that it had agreed to be taken over by Texas Air Corp.