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Under the Better Boundaries initiative, or Proposition 4 — passed by voters in 2018, repealed by legislators in 2020 and reinstated by a lower court last month — districts were required to be drawn by an independent redistricting commission, and they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The Legislature substantially repealed the initiative in 2020 and adopted maps that split Democratic areas in Salt Lake County into four different congressional districts, thus creating four safe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.
An appeal to the Utah Supreme Court challenging Gibson’s decision reinstating Proposition 4 is still pending.
Read more at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.