Court rules Utah must redraw its congressional districts

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Third District Judge Dianna Gibson has ruled that the Legislature unconstitutionally overrode a citizen ballot initiative by enacting its own maps, in a redistricting case that was sent back down to lower courts after the Utah Supreme Court upheld Utahns’ right to “alter and reform” their government in a game-changing ruling last year.

The highly anticipated ruling is a major decision from the lower courts, revealing that they deem Utah’s Congressional boundaries from H.B. 2004, which made the 2021 Congressional Map, was not enacted under S.B. 200 and Proposition 4. Therefore, it cannot “lawfully govern future elections,” and the legislature must redistrict a new map.

Judge Gibson ruled that Proposition 4 is the law on redistricting in Utah, and therefore the maps from H.B. 2004 cannot be used. Her decision directs the Legislature to design a “remedial congressional redistricting map” in line with the requirements of Prop 4.

This 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 League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, and others 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 major 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 decision proposes a timeline to govern redistricting proceedings between now and November 1, 2025, 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.

It’s widely anticipated that this ruling will be appealed to the Utah Supreme Court.

The court has set a Status Conference for Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, at 10 a.m.