In Big Win for Voters, Utah Supreme Court Upholds Block on Gerrymandered Congressional Map

The Utah Supreme Court Monday denied the state legislature’s petition to keep its gerrymandered congressional map in place for upcoming elections and ordered lawmakers to present a new map by Sept. 25.

The decision likely ensures that Utahns will have fair districts when they go to the polls next year, and could give Democrats an additional seat in Congress.

The League of Women Voters of Utah, the Mormon Women for Ethical Government and individual voters filed a lawsuit in 2022 challenging the GOP-controlled legislature’s new congressional map and the repeal of Proposition 4, a ballot initiative passed in 2018 that created an independent redistricting commission composed of citizens.

A district court ruled last month the 2021 map unconstitutionally violated the redistricting reforms voters approved through Proposition 4, and it developed a plan to put in place a new map in time for the 2026 election. The court also denied the legislative defendants’ motion to keep the 2021 map in place throughout the remedial process and any appeals – a ruling they appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. 

In the latest development, the Utah Supreme Court upheld the district court’s decision to deny the motion keeping the 2021 map in place. 

“Their complaints about the remedial process do not demonstrate that the court’s denial of the stay order is legally wrong or that the court otherwise abused its discretion. Without that, they have not shown why they should receive the extraordinary relief they seek here,” the order said.