A Utah judge’s late-night court order Monday sparked celebration from anti-gerrymandering groups and Democrats, striking down the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature’s congressional map and replacing it with one that would include a single Democratic-leaning district and three Republican-leaning districts.
But Utah’s redistricting battle is far from over — and it may boil over into an even uglier clash with the state’s judiciary.
Barely 20 minutes after 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson’s order was released, with her decision going public shortly before midnight, a GOP Utah lawmaker announced on social media that he would launch an effort to remove her from the bench.
“I have opened a bill to file articles of impeachment against Judge Gibson for gross abuse of power, violating the separation of powers and failing to uphold her oath of office to the Utah Constitution,” Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, posted on X.
Under Utah law, elected officials and judges can only be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors or malfeasance in office.” Any impeachment proceedings would be required to start in the House.
Gibson was appointed in 2018 by then-Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, and confirmed unanimously by the GOP-supermajority Utah Senate. At the time, on the Senate floor, Sen. Todd Weiler — chair of the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee — quipped lightheartedly that he was told “by one of the smarter attorneys I know (that) ‘if we didn’t confirm her we were all a bunch of idiots,’” and he said he agreed.
It’s too soon to say whether MacPherson’s effort will gain enough traction to survive both the House and Senate — but what was clear Tuesday was the Utah Republican Party and its member legislators were furious with Gibson’s order, accusing her of violating the Utah Constitution, which they continue to argue clearly requires the Legislature to carry out redistricting duties.
Utah’s top Republican legislative leaders — Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz — didn’t go so far as to directly promise impeachment proceedings, but they issued a joint statement strongly condemning Gibson’s ruling.
“Late last night, a single unelected judge set aside the Utah Constitution and the voice of Utah voters, selecting a map drawn behind closed doors by out-of-state advocacy groups,” Adams and Schultz said. “The process the judge chose denied the people of Utah a chance to see it, to weigh in, or to be heard. The judge disregarded the Constitution to select a clearly gerrymandered map. This is not fair to Utahns and is deeply disappointing.”
While they argue the map drawn by plaintiffs and chosen by the court was “clearly gerrymandered” to favor Democrats, Gibson in her order concluded from more than 1,000 pages of evidence and hours of public expert testimony that the Legislature’s map “is an extreme partisan outlier — more Republican than over 99% of expected maps drawn without political consideration.”
Statement on Judge Gibson’s Activist Map Decision#utgop #utpol pic.twitter.com/2pfKnjE96a
— UtahGOP (@UtahGOP) November 11, 2025
She also concluded that lawmakers’ retained expert drew the map with “partisan political data on display” in violation of a voter-approved law meant to protect against gerrymandering.
Schultz and Adams, however, argued “this isn’t how government should work.”
“Our system depends on transparency, accountability, and respect for the roles defined in our Constitution,” they said. “Judges are meant to uphold the law as written, not rewrite it to serve political ends. Nothing in Utah’s Constitution gives the courts authority to impose maps designed by private groups.”
Redistricting, they added, “is not a courtroom exercise; it is a constitutional duty entrusted to the Legislature, the body directly elected and accountable to Utahns. When that process is overridden, it weakens the voice of every Utahn.”
“Utahns deserve leaders who will defend their voice, their Constitution, and the balance of powers that make our system work,” they added. “This moment calls for unity and resolve, to stand together, but firmly, in defense of the principles that make Utah strong and the Republic process we all depend on.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, also issued a statement saying he disagrees with Gibson’s ruling and supports efforts to appeal it. His statement, however, didn’t go so far as to say he supports impeachment efforts, and the governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request clarifying his stance.
“The Utah Constitution clearly states that it is the responsibility of the Legislature to divide the state into congressional districts. While I respect the Court’s role in our system, no judge, and certainly no advocacy group, can usurp that constitutional authority,” Cox said. “For this reason, I fully support the Legislature appealing the Court’s decision.”
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
