Utah's congressional map must be redrawn now, judge rules
[September 04, 2025]
By MEAD GRUVER
A judge has ruled that Utah lawmakers must proceed with redrawing the
state’s congressional district map right away, pointing to Texas and
California in rejecting their argument that the job can’t be done in
time for the 2026 midterm elections.
The ruling keeps Utah firmly among states where partisan redistricting
battles stand to tilt the outcome of the next congressional election.
Utah lawmakers were wrong to disregard an independent commission's map
in drawing one that has been used for the 2022 and 2024 elections, Salt
Lake County District Judge Dianna Gibson ruled Aug. 25.
The map did away with a district in the Salt Lake City area that has
swung between Republicans and Democrats in favor of a map where four
districts, each with a piece of the urban corridor, have been won by
Republicans with wide margins.
On Tuesday, Gibson denied state lawmakers' request to keep her ruling
from taking effect, rejecting their argument that her one-month deadline
to adopt a map that complies with voter-approved standards is too short.
“While the timelines here are short, redistricting has been accomplished
under tighter timelines in other cases,” Gibson wrote in her ruling.
In Texas, she pointed out, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott recently approved
a redistricting plan at President Donald Trump's urging that will likely
add five Republicans to the U.S. House. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a
Democrat, has responded with an effort to add five Democratic districts
to that state.
Missouri has meanwhile launched an effort to add Republican seats to
Congress through gerrymandering, the longstanding practice of both
parties to draw states' congressional districts for partisan advantage.
Traditionally states redraw congressional districts once a decade based
on the most recent census. Trump, however, has been encouraging
Republican-led states to redraw maps at mid-decade to help Republicans'
chances in the 2026 congressional election.
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Utah has an opportunity to be different, Gibson wrote in her ruling.
"While other states are currently redrawing their congressional
plans to intentionally render some citizen votes meaningless, Utah
could redesign its congressional plan with an intention to protect
its citizens’ right to vote and to ensure that each citizen’s vote
is meaningful,” the judge wrote.
In 2018, Utah voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative that
created a commission to draw boundaries for Utah’s legislative and
congressional districts.
Two years later, the state Legislature repealed the initiative and
turned the commission into an advisory board they proceeded to
ignore. The state Supreme Court rejected the law, ruling lawmakers
have limited power to change laws passed by voters.
The state high court sent the case back to Gibson to rule on the
Legislature's map, which she rejected.
Republicans in the state criticized last week's ruling as “judicial
activism in action.”
“Using earlier flawed rulings to justify their opinions over the
principles of our founding is a special kind of hubris,” Utah
Republican Party Chairman Robert Axson posted on X.
The Utah Supreme Court is unlikely to reconsider an issue on which
it just ruled last year, however. Lawmakers might now choose to cut
their losses by creating a single left-leaning block, or gamble on
creating competitive districts that Republicans would have to fight
to keep.
The U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, is likely to keep out of the
fray. The high court ruled in 2019 that gerrymandering is outside
the purview of federal courts and should be decided by states.
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