Utah Supreme Court sides with opponents of redistricting that carved up Democratic-leaning area

Utah’s Supreme Court handed a victory Thursday to opponents of redistricting that carved up Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County among four congressional districts that have since all elected Republicans by wide margins.

The 5-0 ruling won’t affect elections this year. The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court to revisit the process for redrawing the state’s congressional boundaries.

That will take time, and the current boundaries will remain for now.

But an attorney for the League of Women Voters and others that challenged the boundaries drawn by the state Legislature was optimistic they would be overturned.

“This is a sweeping victory,” said Mark Gaber with the Campaign Legal Center. “I’m hopeful we will prevail and in the end we will have new, fair maps in Utah.”

State lawmakers had argued the new maps ensured a better mix of urban and rural areas in all districts. They also said redistricting could not be subject to judicial review, a claim Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about in arguments a year ago.

The contested map approved by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature stripped power from a independent redistricting commission that had been established to ensure that congressional boundaries aren’t drawn to favor one party over another. Utah voters created the commission by narrowly passing a “Better Boundaries” ballot initiative in 2018.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true»