A judge ordered the Utah legislature on Monday to redraw its congressional maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections, ruling that lawmakers had unlawfully gerrymandered districts to favor Republicans.
Judge Dianna Gibson’s 76-page order directs the state legislature to pass a “remedial congressional map” by the end of September. Lawmakers have indicated they plan to appeal, setting the stage for a likely showdown in the Utah Supreme Court—and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gibson’s ruling comes as disputes over redistricting in Texas and California have put gerrymandering back in the national spotlight. Gerrymandering involves redrawing congressional boundaries to benefit one party, a practice critics say dilutes voters’ influence.
The lawsuit in Utah stems from redistricting changes that began in 2018. That year, Utah voters approved Proposition 4, the “Better Boundaries” initiative, designed to reform the redistricting process and create an independent oversight commission.
Two years later, the legislature passed a bill that effectively nullified Proposition 4, reducing the commission to an advisory role. Lawmakers then drew new congressional maps that heavily favored Republicans.
The updated map divided Salt Lake City into four separate districts, which voting rights groups—including the League of Women Voters of Utah and the Mormon Women for Ethical Government—argued unlawfully fragmented the state’s only Democratic-leaning urban area, violating Proposition 4 standards.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, weighed in Monday ahead of Gibson’s ruling, warning that “almost anything promoted as an ‘independent commission’ is often a strategy to give Democrats an edge they can’t win through fair elections.”
“We the people need to halt this trend. To do so, we must first grasp what these independent commissions truly represent,” Lee wrote in an extensive X post. “In a state like Utah, they’re essentially a mechanism for the left to grab power they can’t get through democratic elections.”
Utah’s redistricting clash follows Texas’ recent passage of new maps designed to benefit Republicans in the upcoming midterms. President Donald Trump praised the move as a “BIG WIN,” while Democrats briefly left the state in protest.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, responded to what he called a Trump-led power grab by proposing a swift revision to his own state’s congressional map, which had been drawn by an independent commission. Newsom said Democrats must “play hardball” to counter the Republican Party’s momentum, and Trump announced plans to sue Newsom over the new map.
