Utah Supreme Court hands win to groups challenging state Legislature-created maps

The Utah Supreme Court ruled Thursday the GOP-controlled state Legislature was wrong to essentially bypass an independent redistricting commission created through a voter-approved ballot initiative and establish its own House maps instead. 

Utahns passed a ballot initiative in 2018 that established an independent redistricting commission, which would offer a set of maps to the state Legislature for consideration. 

But the state Legislature got rid of the process established by the 2018 ballot initiative and passed a set of House maps of its own, which divided the liberal Salt Lake County into four pieces. Groups filing the lawsuit against the state Legislature-created maps argued in their filing that “a map drawn according to neutral criteria would have divided it at most three times.”

While the House map will remain in place ahead of the November election, the state Supreme Court remanded it back to the district court, leaving questions about the fate of the state’s current congressional lines. 

“Although the Legislature has authority to amend or repeal statutes, it is well settled that legislative action cannot unduly infringe or restrain the exercise of constitutional rights. Consequently, when Utahns exercise their right to reform the government through an initiative, this limits the Legislature’s authority to amend or repeal the initiative,” the court ruled in its decision.

“This does not mean that the Legislature cannot amend a government-reform initiative at all. Rather, legislative changes that facilitate or support the reform, or at least do not impair the reform enacted by the people, would not implicate the people’s rights under the Alter or Reform Clause,” the court explained. 

“Legislative changes that do impair the reforms enacted by the people could also survive a constitutional challenge, if the Legislature shows that they were narrowly tailored to advance a compelling government interest,” it added.

Mark Gaber, one of the attorneys at the Campaign Legal Center representing the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling in a statement on the social platform X.

“VICTORY! Utah Supreme Court reinstates our claim that the legislature violated the Utah Constitution when it repealed the initiative banning partisan gerrymandering,” Gaber wrote.  “Affirms that the people have the right to alter or reform their government. #fairmaps #Utah.”

Meanwhile, state Senate President J. Stuart Adams (R) and House Speaker Mike Schultz (R) issued a statement arguing the state Supreme Court’s opinion was an “inaccurate interpretation” of the state constitution.

“Utah has been recognized as the best-managed state in the nation, with a strong spirit of collaboration known for solving tough issues for the citizens of the state. This is one of the worst outcomes we’ve ever seen from the Utah Supreme Court. Rather than reaching the self-evident answer, today the Court punted and made a new law about the initiative power, creating chaos and striking at the very heart of our republic,” the two men said in a statement.

“This ruling will have profound and lasting ripple consequences that could negatively impact the state’s future. It mirrors how states like California are governed—by big money and outside interest groups that run initiatives to alter the government and push their own agendas,” they added.