Yet again, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled against the Utah Legislature in the state’s ongoing redistricting legal battle. 

The state’s highest court issued a ruling Friday rejecting lawmakers’ attempt to overturn a district court judge’s earlier decision in an anti-gerrymandering lawsuit that led to a court-ordered congressional map creating one Democratic district and three Republican districts. 

The plaintiffs in that district court case — the League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, and a handful of Salt Lake County voters — had argued that the Utah Supreme Court should dismiss the appeal because it lacked jurisdiction since the case hasn’t been finalized in district court. 

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The Utah Supreme Court agreed, according to an opinion issued by the court’s law and motion panel, which is composed of Chief Justice Matthew Durrant, Associate Chief Justice Jill Pohlman, and Justice Paige Petersen. 

“Utah voters deserve fair representation and clarity heading into our elections,” Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, said in a prepared statement reacting to the ruling. “We are encouraged that the court dismissed this improper appeal and allowed the process to move forward without disruption to voters or election administrators. The League of Women Voters of Utah will continue in our fight for fair maps for Utahns.” 

One of the most vocal opponents to Utah’s court-ordered map, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, issued a statement Friday arguing that “neither the Utah Constitution nor the U.S. Constitution empowers courts to impose a map that elected representatives did not enact.” 

“Once again, the chaos continues, but we will keep defending a process that respects the Constitution and ensures Utah voters across our state have their voices respected,” said Adams, a Republican from Layton.

The ruling rejected the Legislature’s appeal while also dismissing a request to block 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson’s earlier ruling that voided the Legislature’s 2021 congressional map. The court also denied another motion from Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson to intervene in the appeal. 

“Because we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, we dismiss both motions as moot,” the Utah Supreme Court ruling says. 

It’s another blow to Utah’s Republican lawmakers, who have continued to fight Gibson’s rulings while arguing that the Legislature has the sole authority under the Utah Constitution to draw political boundaries. 

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But in a groundbreaking ruling in 2024, the Utah Supreme Court made it clear that the Utah Legislature’s powers have limits when it comes to undoing “government reform” ballot initiatives. The court also said “under our state constitution, the people’s legislative power is equal to the Legislature’s.” 

That ruling later led Gibson to rule that the Legislature’s 2021 congressional map was “unlawful” because it was the result of an “unconstitutional process” after lawmakers repealed and replaced a 2018 ballot initiative known as Proposition 4 that created an independent redistricting commission with neutral map-drawing criteria. 

To replace that “unlawful” 2021 congressional map, Gibson also ordered a “remedial” map drawing process in court and gave the Utah Legislature an opportunity to submit a replacement map for her consideration, along with the plaintiffs. 

However, Gibson ultimately rejected the Legislature’s proposed map, known as map C, after she determined it didn’t adhere to Proposition 4’s neutral map-drawing standards to the greatest extent practicable. Instead, she picked a map drawn by the plaintiffs because it included the least city and county splits. 

That resulted in a compact district around northern Salt Lake County that leans Democratic, while the other three congressional districts span across the rest of the state and remain heavily Republican. 

Dismayed by the court-ordered map and viewing it as an affront to their constitutional powers to redistrict, Republican legislative leaders have criticized the new map as the “most gerrymandered” in the state’s history. They have been fighting Gibson’s ruling ever since. 

Though lawmakers lost yet again in front of the Utah Supreme Court, there’s a separate lawsuit brewing that also has the potential to upend the court-ordered map. 

On Wednesday, a federal three-judge panel heard arguments in a separate redistricting lawsuit filed in part by two members of Utah’s current all-Republican congressional delegation: Reps. Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens. 

They’re urging the three U.S. District Court judges to toss Gibson’s court-ordered map and reinstate the 2021 boundaries, arguing state and federal law doesn’t empower a judge to impose a map. Instead, they argue Gibson should have directed the Legislature to try again to  draw new boundaries. 

During Wednesday’s hearing in that case, the judges’ line of questioning indicated they wanted to see whether the Utah Supreme Court would weigh in on the Legislature’s appeal before issuing a decision. 

Attorneys for Utah’s top election administrator, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, said her office needs an answer on which congressional map will govern the 2026 elections by Monday in preparation for candidate filing deadlines that the Utah Legislature had already pushed until mid-March.

It’s still possible the federal judicial panel could issue a wild reversal and reinstate the 2021 congressional boundaries before Monday. But as of now, Utah’s court-ordered congressional map still stands.