- President Donald Trump criticized a Utah judge's order to redraw congressional maps as unconstitutional.
- Judge Dianna Gibson ruled current maps can't be used in future elections.
- The decision aligns with national debates on gerrymandering and upholds Proposition 4.
SALT LAKE CITY — President Donald Trump took to social media Wednesday to decry this week's decision by a judge in Utah requiring the state Legislature to redraw its congressional maps.
"Monday's Court Order in Utah is absolutely Unconstitutional. How did such a wonderful Republican State like Utah, which I won in every Election, end up with so many Radical Left Judges? All Citizens of Utah should be outraged at their activist Judiciary, which wants to take away our Congressional advantage, and will do everything possible to do so. This incredible State sent four great Republicans to Congress, and we want to keep it that way. The Utah GOP has to STAY UNITED, and make sure their four terrific Republican Congressmen stay right where they are!" Trump posted on the Truth Social website Wednesday afternoon.
On Monday, 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that the current maps can't be used "in any future elections" and gave lawmakers 30 days to enact new political boundaries that comply with the initiative creating an independent redistricting commission.
The decision positioned Utah in the ongoing national debate about gerrymandering, as Texas Republicans are poised to redraw the state's maps in an effort to pick up more Republican seats going into the 2026 midterms, and California has taken steps to retaliate.
Plaintiffs first sued the Legislature in 2022, alleging that lawmakers violated Utahns' rights to participate in free elections by ignoring voting maps recommended by an independent redistricting commission. That commission was created through the voter-approved Proposition 4 in 2018, but the Legislature watered down the commission's role to an advisory one two years later and adopted its own set of maps in 2021.
Gibson sided with the plaintiffs, including several voters along with the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, who had argued that changing the Proposition 4 initiative violated the rights of Utah voters. The judge issued a permanent injunction on the maps, without which she wrote: "Another election cycle will proceed in defiance of the will of the people, as expressed in Proposition 4."
"An injunction against HB2004 is in the public interest because it is the only remedy that will enforce Proposition 4 going forward and prevent the continued violation of the people's constitutional rights," she wrote.
