In a recent judgement, Utah's Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson stood firm against the Utah Legislature's request to put a hold on her order to redraw the state's congressional district maps, as reported by ABC4. Last week, the Legislature sought to stay the process, which was denied, leaving them with a September 25 deadline to propose new maps after Gibson's August 25 ruling declared their previous redistricting efforts unconstitutional, an overruling of a citizen ballot initiative.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, there's been a slight extension in the overall timeframe, with Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson indicating that the county clerks would be prepared for next year's elections provided they have the new maps by November 10, pushing past the initial November 1 deadline, the process now given less than 10 weeks for drawing and having new maps approved by the court, which is an expedited timeline from Gibson's order, but the Legislature must still accommodate 10 days for public input and convene a special legislative session to adopt the maps before submitting them for Governor Spencer Cox's signature.
The approval of the new boundaries by the court includes criteria established in Proposition 4, known as the Better Boundaries initiative, which prohibits maps that unduly favor one party over another, as detailed by The Salt Lake Tribune. An agreement was reached for a hearing on October 23-24 to determine if the Legislature's submitted congressional boundaries adhere to this standard.
In their motion to request the pause, the Legislature argued the 30-day deadline did not give them a "meaningful opportunity to perform its constitutional duty and inflicts grave separation of powers and constitutional injuries," as KUTV reported. Even though Judge Gibson's ruling effectively denied this argument, initially giving them until September 24 to produce new remedial maps, attorneys for both the plaintiff challenging the old maps and the Legislature must now proceed under the extended but still tight timeline to establish fair representation for Utah's constituents.
