Ruling expected Monday on whether Utah gerrymandered its congressional lines

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Third District Judge Dianna Gibson’s office has made it known that a ruling in Utah’s redistricting case is expected Monday, August 25.

The office sent an email to both parties, which included notice of a date for a status conference.

“The Judge has indicated to me her decision will be issued on Monday. That being said the court has set a Status Conference on Friday, August 29, 2025 at 10:00 AM,” that email from a member of her staff reads.

The highly anticipated ruling will be a major decision from the lower courts that will reveal whether they deem that Utah’s Congressional boundaries are gerrymandered, and whether the Utah legislature ignored a citizen-ballot initiative that created an independent commission to draw those lines.

Still, the decision likely isn’t the final outcome. It’s anticipated that the ruling gets appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, regardless of its outcome.

The anticipated ruling marks the latest entry in that complex saga that began in 2018, when voters passed a citizen ballot initiative run by Better Boundaries. The initiative, better known as Prop 4, created an independent redistricting commission to draw new boundary lines for Utah’s congressional districts.

In 2020, the Utah Legislature watered down Prop 4, gutting the commission created by the initiative in S.B. 200 and replacing those maps with its own in H.B. 2004. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the legislature argue that those maps, which are still used today, are gerrymandered.

In their lawsuit, plaintiffs argue the lines break up Salt Lake City into four districts, diluting minority votes in the traditionally “red” state. Plaintiffs also argue Utahns have a constitutionally protected right to “alter and reform” their government, which they attempted to do via Prop 4 before it was altered by the legislature.

The Utah Supreme Court upheld that right in a game-changing ruling last year, kicking the case back down into Utah’s lower court. Utah’s top lawmakers discredited the ruling, calling it the “worst decision they’ve ever seen.” Earlier this year, both parties argued the merits of the case before Judge Gibson.

The case has a soft deadline as Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has asked the court for the case to be finalized by November so that if new lines need to be drawn, they can be drawn before the 2026 midterm elections.

This is a developing story and may be updated.