Utah voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 that bans partisan gerrymandering. Monday, Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that a Republican gerrymandered federal district map violated that amendment (known as Proposition 4).
The decision ensures Utah’s 2026 congressional elections will proceed under a court-ordered fair map drawn according to the neutral criteria voters demanded, Democracy Docket wrote.
“In 2018, Utahns exercised their fundamental constitutional right to alter or reform their government via an initiative that, among other things, banned partisan gerrymandering,” Gibson wrote. “S.B. 1011 unconstitutionally impairs Proposition 4’s reforms in violation of Article I, Section 2 of the Utah Constitution”…
“The evidence shows that the partisan bias test directly contravenes Proposition 4’s neutral redistricting criteria,” Gibson found. “It fails maps that perform best on those criteria and passes maps that perform worst on them.”
According to NBC, “The ruling is a major blow for Republicans, who had designed a map to protect the state’s all-GOP congressional delegation.”
The approved Congressional map now has a Democratic-leaning district (57%) in Salt Lake County. “Utah’s current map splits the populous Salt Lake County into four districts,” according to NBC.
“An enlightened Utah judge made clear last night that the people of Utah — not MAGA politicians — should decide who represents them in Congress,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The court correctly enacted a fair map that reflects the geographical composition of Salt Lake County, instead of the current map that deliberately cracks communities of interest to artificially hand Republicans complete control of the congressional delegation.”
Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson said that Prop 4 “is a direct threat to our constitutional order.”
Historically, Democrats and voters prefer neutral redistricting commissions; Republicans oppose them.
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