The viability of partisan gerrymandering claims in Utah is unclear. In 2022, a trial court declined to dismiss claims that Utah’s new congressional map is a partisan gerrymander under the state constitution. League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature, No. 220901712 (Utah Dist. Ct. Oct. 24, 2022). On appeal, the Utah Supreme Court stayed those claims to allow a lower court to first rule on remand whether the Utah legislature properly repealed a statutory ban on partisan gerrymandering that the state’s citizens had enacted by ballot measure in 2018. League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature, No. 20220991-SC, — P.3d —-, 2024 WL 3367145, at *3 n.5 (Utah July 11, 2024). According to the court, a lower-court order favoring plaintiffs on this issue could moot their partisan gerrymandering claims by invalidating the congressional map that is the basis of those claims. Id. at *44.
Last Updated: July 26, 2024