Yesterday was a good day in Utah. We'll see what happens.
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Last night, a judge threw out the gerrymandered maps that the legislators created in 2021 and said "come back with new ones in 30 days. These boundaries will NOT be used in 2026."
For those interested in the original thread from 2021 which explains it. I searched and found it. https://vivalazone.org/other-stuff/gerrymander-us-grrrr
This story is from Marc Elias' "Democracy Docket" https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/utah-strikes-down-gerrymande...
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In a landmark victory for voters, a Utah judge struck down the state Legislature’s gerrymandered congressional map and reinstated the citizen-led redistricting reforms voters approved in 2018.
Judge Dianna Gibson ruled Monday that the Utah Legislature’s repeal of Proposition 4 — the voter-approved independent redistricting commission and anti-gerrymandering law — was unconstitutional.
“Proposition 4 is the law in Utah on redistricting. H.B. 2004, the 2021 Congressional Map, which was not enacted under S.B. 200 and not Proposition 4, cannot lawfully govern future elections in Utah,” Gibson wrote. “Use of H.B. 2004, the 2021 Congressional Map, in any future elections is hereby ENJOINED.”
The ruling permanently blocks use of the GOP-drawn 2021 congressional map that split Salt Lake County into four districts, diluting the power of non-Republican voters.
“The Legislature intentionally stripped away all of Proposition 4’s core redistricting standards and procedures that were mandatory and binding on it,” Gibson added. “To permit the 2021 Congressional Plan to remain in place would reward the very constitutional violation this Court has already identified and would nullify the people’s 2018 redistricting reform.”
The court ordered lawmakers to redraw Utah’s congressional districts under the rules of Proposition 4. They have until September 24 to deliver a compliant plan.
If they fail — or if the new map doesn’t meet the law’s standards — plaintiffs and other groups may submit their own maps for the court to consider.
An evidentiary hearing on the new maps is set for October, keeping the process on track for fairer elections in 2026.
This ruling is a resounding win for the pro-voting plaintiffs who have spent years battling partisan gerrymandering. More broadly, it is a victory for Utah voters who demanded fair maps at the ballot box in 2018.
By restoring Proposition 4 and blocking the gerrymandered map, the court reaffirmed that the people — not politicians — have the final word on how they are represented.
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We did have some fun with it. The Mayor of Millcreek bragged his city had more congressional representation than most states - 4 Representatives and 2 Senators! He produced a pin.
And when I did a march to publicize a statewide relief program for seniors, we walked it so we could say we walked in every congressional district in the state!
I guess the bumper sticker I made is now a collector's item! LOL
Here's the detailed map where a 1.8 mile stretch of highway bordered every district. That intersection where the pic above was taken has 3 districts (green, tan, orange).
And what the gerrymandered state map looked like to take away the voice of the Democratic stronghold of Salt Lake County. Maybe now we can get a Demo in congress to stand up for environmental protections.
Living in Salt Lake City, I'm in the green district 2 (by where all those colored dots are), so I vote with southern Utahns 300 miles away. Folks by Zion National Park vote with us in SLC. We're represented by Ammon Bundy's cousin Celeste Maloy, who lives 250 miles away in a county south of that number 2.
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
Congratulations to Utah! Real
Congratulations to Utah! Real representation is possible!
Your bumper sticker is clever and now archivable.
Good work, Slickrock and other people in Utah who care.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: MarkD
Our wins have been few and
Our wins have been few and far between lately so this is very positive news. Good job your honor.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Alan R
^Yeah -- same. Thankfully,
^Yeah -- same. Thankfully, there are some sane people in Utah besides Slickrock.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Alan R
^Yeah -- same. Thankfully,
.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: I'm already taken ..... By me!
Excellence
Excellence
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: donster
Encouraging Slick .... thanks
Encouraging Slick .... thanks for the info
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: intentionally blank
> Judge Dianna Gibson ruled
> Judge Dianna Gibson ruled Monday
This is good news, but I have to wonder how long it will take Trump to come after Gibson for judicial activism.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Lord Kalvert
Iceberg ? a real grease
Iceberg ? a real grease pit.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
Great shakes, Klondike, and a
Great shakes, Klondike, and a recognizable landmark. Three districts at that corner intersection. And they had a table to stand on!
Here's our local good reporter on the issue. https://www.fox13now.com/news/politics/after-utah-redistricting-ruling-a...
Mike, the state folks have already started. Here's the story in today's SL Tribune.
Utah judge faces GOP backlash after ordering Legislature to redraw congressional maps
One state senator insinuated Judge Dianna Gibson may be removed from the bench.
By Robert Gehrke
| Aug. 26, 2025, 3:39 p.m.
Within hours of striking down Utah’s congressional maps and directing the Legislature to draw new ones, Judge Dianna Gibson was already taking heat, with lawmakers clamoring to hold her accountable for her “judicial activism,” including an insinuation she could be removed from the bench.
In a blow to the Legislature, Gibson ruled Monday evening that citizens had a constitutional right to put constraints on the redistricting process, which they did when they passed the 2018 Better Boundaries initiative. The Legislature violated that right, she wrote, when it repealed those limitations, ignored maps drawn by an independent redistricting commission and adopted its own maps.
Those new boundaries split Democrat-leaning areas of Salt Lake County into four separate congressional districts and created safe seats for Republican House members.
“Judge Gibson took 76 single spaced pages to justify ignoring plain language of the Utah Constitution,” Sen. Daniel McCay wrote on X Monday night. “Could Judge Gibson be the first judicial removal for ignoring the Utah Constitution that she took an oath to uphold?”
Judge Gibson took 76 single spaced pages to justify ignoring plain language of the Utah Constitution.
Could Judge Gibson be the first judicial removal for ignoring the Utah Constitution that she took an oath to uphold? https://t.co/76PIgfUwf7 pic.twitter.com/1dZsVLcnwb
— Daniel McCay (@danmccay) August 26, 2025
McCay attached an image of Article IX, Section 1 of the Utah Constitution that states that after receiving Census figures, “the Legislature shall divide the state into congressional, legislative, and other districts accordingly.”
Attorneys for the Legislature argued the provision gives the Legislature sole power to draw political boundaries.
Gibson addressed that contention, writing at considerable length that, while the Legislature does conduct redistricting, the constitutional provision McCay referenced was added to the Constitution in 2008 to establish when redistricting should occur and that it actually limits the Legislature’s authority.
Nothing in the provision, she wrote, gives the Legislature the sole authority to redistrict, nor does it exclude the public from exercising its “co-equal legislative power” guaranteed in the Utah Constitution — a power exercised when voters passed Proposition 4. That 2018 ballot initiative-turned law creates standards for the Legislature to abide by when redistricting, including banning partisan gerrymandering.
“Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Utah Constitution grants sole and exclusive authority over redistricting to the Legislature. … The people have the fundamental constitution[al] right and authority to propose redistricting legislation that is binding on the Legislature,” she wrote.
She gave legislators 30 days to draw new maps.
“You’ve got a citizen Legislature and the judge said, ‘either you do this in 30 days or I will do it for you.’ I do not see that in the Constitution,” McCay said in an interview.
More broadly, McCay said he’s heard from several colleagues who have “concerns that the judiciary feels it is entitled at the moment,” given some of its recent decisions.
“I don’t know that this necessarily warrants removal, but I do think there needs to be this conversation about where are we going and what is the court’s purpose here,” he said. “Where are they trying to lead us, because clearly, they are the ones making the policy. It’s not the Legislature.”
McCay was not the only Republican blasting Gibson’s ruling.
State Republican Party Chair Rob Axson called it “Judicial activism in action.” U.S. Sen. Mike Lee on X called it “a judicial takeover of the political process — one designed by leftists to advance the electoral prospects of the Democratic Party.” And state Sen. John Johnson, R-North Ogden, called it “judicial legislation” and “an abuse of power.”
“Utah will not be governed by judicial fiat,” Johnson wrote on social media. “If [judges] persist in substituting personal preference for constitutional principle, then the Legislature has not only the right but the duty to hold them accountable.”
Gibson was nominated by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in October 2018, received a unanimous vote by the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee and was confirmed unanimously by the full Senate. She was a finalist for a vacancy on the Utah Supreme Court in 2022.
She was vetted and recommended for both nominations by a nominating commission made up of members appointed by the governor.
The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission voted unanimously in 2022 that she should be retained, and 75% of voters were in favor of keeping her on the bench. She will next be up for retention in 2028.
Democratic Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek, said in an interview that GOP lawmakers’ talk of impeaching judges who rule against them “is par for the course at this point for Republicans in this state. … When they don’t get their way, they’re going to press every single lever they have.”
“I think that’s totally inappropriate and just so wild that these judges have come through a confirmation and appointment process that is entirely controlled by Republicans and they’re still accusing them of being liberal activist judges,” Blouin said.
More broadly, a series of court rulings stopping key parts of the supermajority Republican agenda — like blocking a law that outlawed almost all abortions, preventing a ban on transgender girls playing high school sports, keeping the Legislature from repealing Proposition 4, voiding a constitutional amendment seeking to overturn the Proposition 4 ruling — have sparked a backlash, prompting a wide-ranging effort from legislators to exert more control over the judiciary.
Lawmakers have discussed adding justices to the Utah Supreme Court and having judges elected. They proposed letting the Legislature recommend whether specific judges should be retained or not and requiring judges to get a supermajority to win retention.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: jazfish
Thanks , Slick.
Thanks , Slick.