Utah Judge Rejects GOP Bid to Block Fairer Map for 2026 Elections 

A Utah judge Friday refused to halt her landmark ruling that struck down the GOP-led legislature’s gerrymander. The decision means the court-ordered, fairer map — which gives Democratic and independent voters a meaningful chance at representation — remains on track for the 2026 elections.

Judge Dianna Gibson denied the Legislature’s attempt to pause her ruling, entirely rejecting Republicans’ claims that they were boxed out of the appeals process.

In the ruling, Gibson wrote that “the Legislative Defendants’ assertion that they have ‘had no opportunity to appeal’ in this case” was unsupported and that lawmakers presented “no evidence to show that they were prevented from appealing” any of the court’s major orders — including the rulings issued on Aug. 25, Sept. 6 and Nov. 10.

The judge went further, noting that GOP lawmakers were responsible for their own delay.

“A simple review of the docket, the parties’ filings, and the audio recordings of the August 29, 2025 hearing and the scheduling discussion at the end of the October 24, 2025 hearing reveals the opposite,” Gibson wrote. “Any suggestion that this Court delayed issuing any ruling to force compliance with the remedial process or to preclude an appeal is unfounded.”

The legislature had argued that the court’s timeline left them unable to challenge the decision — a claim Gibson dismantled with unusual clarity. She reminded lawmakers that they had already granted themselves a fast-track appeals process earlier this year.

“The Legislature created for itself a statutory right to immediately appeal any injunction issued against any state law to the Utah Supreme Court.” Yet, as the judge noted, “even as of December 4, 2025, no appeal has been filed.”

The ruling leaves in place the court’s earlier decision adopting the plaintiffs’ fairer map drawn in adherence to Proposition 4 — the voter-approved anti-gerrymandering reform the legislature attempted to strip away after President Donald Trump urged GOP-controlled states to solidify congressional power through aggressive redistricting.

The rejected map was engineered to guarantee Republicans a 4–0 congressional sweep even when neutral criteria showed that a naturally occurring map would produce a competitive seat.

With the stay denied, the fairer map governs the 2026 elections unless the Utah Supreme Court intervenes — and the judge all but signaled that such intervention would be unwarranted.

She emphasized that the Legislature could have appealed months ago and that Utah’s high court “would have immediately taken the appeal and issued a decision in time for the 2026 elections.”

The political stakes extend far beyond Utah. With the fight for U.S. House control expected to be razor thin in 2026, a single competitive district created by a fairer map in a red state could help determine which party governs the country.

The Republican legislature is still expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court, but Gibson’s pointed rejection of their stay request — and her documentation of their failure to use the appeals tools they built for themselves — may significantly weaken their case.