Lawmakers have until September 25 to draw new congressional maps.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant leaves the bench after hearing oral arguments for a case challenging the state’s congressional districts before the Utah Supreme Court in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
Current congressional maps drawn by the Utah Legislature in defiance of a passed voter initiative banning gerrymandering will, for now, not be reinstated, the Utah Supreme Court said in a ruling issued Monday evening.
Attorneys for lawmakers asked earlier this month that justices pause the portion of a district court ruling that would have kept the boundaries in place until the Legislature adopts new ones and any appeals of the ruling conclude. If the high court had agreed, it would have opened up the possibility of the current maps remaining in place for at least the 2026 midterm elections, if not longer.
Under the Better Boundaries initiative, or Proposition 4 — passed by voters in 2018, repealed by legislators in 2020 and reinstated by a lower court last month — districts were required to be drawn by an independent redistricting commission, and they could not favor one party over another.
The Legislature substantially repealed the initiative in 2020 and adopted maps that split Democratic areas in Salt Lake County into four different congressional districts, thus creating four safe Republican U.S. House seats.
The Utah League of Women Voters, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a handful of individual voters then sued.
Lawmakers previously requested that 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson put on hold the part of her order blocking use of the maps adopted in 2021. When she rejected that petition, their attorneys appealed to the state Supreme Court, saying Gibson had abused her power.
“Did the district court abuse its discretion in denying Legislative Defendants’ motion for a stay?” the court wrote in its per curiam — or unanimous — decision.
“Given the considerable discretion afforded to the district court to grant a stay of its own injunctive order,” the court continued, “we are in no position to grant extraordinary relief to Legislative Defendants on the basis that that discretion was abused where they have not identified an error related to the district court’s order denying their stay request.”
An appeal to the Utah Supreme Court challenging Gibson’s decision reinstating Proposition 4 is still pending.
“Today’s decision keeps the process moving and affirms the principle that voters, not politicians, choose their representatives,” Elizabeth Rasmussen, executive director of Better Boundaries, wrote in a statement.
Gibson in her August decision gave the Legislature until Sept. 25 to produce a draft of new maps, 10 days for public comment, and then it must adopt new district boundaries in a special session by Oct. 6. The court would then review the maps and either approve them or choose boundaries submitted by other parties in the lawsuit to be used in the 2026 election.
According to Lt. Gov Deidre Henderson, who oversees Utah elections, new maps need to be in place by Nov. 10 to prepare for 2026 congressional races.
Spokespeople for the legislative leaders did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the court’s ruling.
Utah Democrats, in a statement, characterized the Legislature’s latest petition as a “desperate attempt to drag its feet on redistricting.”
“For too long, Republican lawmakers have chosen their voters instead of the other way around,” Utah Democratic Party Chair Brian King said. “That ends now, and we’re ready to hit the ground running once these maps are in place.”