- Utah Legislature appeals to the state Supreme Court over a redistricting ruling.
- Judge Gibson's ruling threw out previous maps adopted by lawmakers and set off a process that resulted in a new map for the 2026 elections.
- Lawmakers criticize judicial intervention, plaintiffs say they're defending the rights of Utahns.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature is asking the state Supreme Court to intervene in the ongoing legal fight over redistricting by appealing an August 2025 ruling that threw out the state's congressional map.
Attorneys for lawmakers, who were sued in 2022 after altering a 2018 ballot initiative on redistricting, filed a motion with the high court Wednesday, noting their intent to appeal 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson's Aug. 25, 2025, order and an amended order issued Sept. 6, 2025. Gibson issued a final judgment on those orders on Tuesday.
Top lawmakers have criticized Gibson's decision for months and have promised to appeal it to the Utah Supreme Court.
"We're obviously extremely concerned with Judge Gibson's ruling," House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards during a meeting Wednesday to discuss the Republican majority's priorities for the upcoming legislative session. "Article IX (of the Utah Constitution) is very clear, and it says the Legislature shall redraw the maps. We have increasingly seen judges, we think, start legislating from the bench. We think that's a huge problem."
The Legislature's filing only says that it plans to appeal and doesn't include any legal briefs, so it remains unclear what specific action they will ask the Supreme Court to take.
"This case has always been about the right of the people to act as a constitutional check on their government," Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told KSL in a statement. "The Legislature is continuing to undermine that right, and we'll continue to stand up for the people before the Utah Supreme Court."
Gibson's rulings last year have paved the way for the rapid adoption of a new congressional map to be used for the 2026 elections. The map adopted by the court in November creates one likely Democratic district anchored in Salt Lake County, which has led to a flurry of interest from Democratic candidates who see their best chance this decade to represent Utah in Washington.
The Legislature pushed back the congressional filing period to March, in hopes that the Supreme Court would intervene in their favor before then.
Because of the ramifications of the shifting political boundaries, Gibson agreed that her rulings "should be reviewed by the Utah Supreme Court as quickly as possible," in an order filed late last month.
