A fight over how congressional districts are drawn in Utah that began nearly a decade ago came closer to a resolution Monday, with a district court judge tossing the red state’s gerrymandered congressional districts and ordering the Legislature to redraw the maps in 30 days.
And ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections, when Utah’s four congressional seats will appear on the ballot, 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson’s ruling has national implications.
The brawl between state lawmakers and supporters of an initiative to create an independent redistricting commission approved by a majority of Utah voters has spanned several years. But Monday’s decision comes as the White House is pushing state legislatures to reignite redistricting battles across the country.
Here’s how Utah got to Monday’s ruling and what happens next:
Nov. 6, 2018: Voters go to the polls to elect leaders, and weigh in on three citizen-launched initiatives — including the Better Boundaries effort, dubbed Proposition 4, to create an independent redistricting commission to draw voting maps. Then-Lt. Gov. Cox certifies election results later that month, with the majority of Utah voters backing it 50.3% to 49.7%.
Feb. 21, 2020: Backers of the Better Boundaries initiative hold a news conference warning that legislators are poised to completely repeal the citizen-backed initiative.
Feb. 27, 2020: Utah lawmakers, along with Better Boundaries organizers, announce they would repeal the voter-passed initiative and replace it with a bill making the independent redistricting commission purely advisory.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, comments on how State lawmakers have reached a tentative accord with the anti-gerrymandering group trying to protect Proposition 4, the voter-approved initiative to create an independent redistricting commission, during a news conference at the Capitol, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.
March 11, 2020: The compromise bill that, among other things, removed the initiative’s ban on partisan gerrymandering is passed by the Legislature and sent to Gov. Gary Herbert. He signed it.
Feb. 1, 2021: Picks for the independent redistricting commission, named by new Gov. Spencer Cox and legislative leaders, are announced. They include former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, former Utah Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham, former state lawmakers, a Brigham Young University professor and a former state district court judge.
Nov. 1, 2021: The independent redistricting commission submits its dozen unanimously recommended maps to the Legislature’s redistricting committee. Among them were three for congressional boundaries.
Nov. 8, 2021: The Legislature’s redistricting committee formally votes to reject the maps recommended by the independent redistricting commission, less than 72 hours after publishing their own. The congressional map splits Salt Lake County into four districts.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rex L. Facer II, chair of the independent redistricting commission presents twelve map proposals to the Legislature at the Capitol on Monday Nov. 1, 2021.
March 17, 2022: The League of Women Voters, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a handful of Salt Lake County voters sue to challenge the congressional districts adopted by the Legislature, and the process by which they drew them.
May 2, 2022: Attorneys for the Legislature ask 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the adopted maps, arguing that it is a political issue, not a legal one that courts should decide.
July 26, 2022: The Legislature’s lawyers ask Gibson to push pause on the challenge to the Utah maps until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a similar case, Rucho v. Common Cause, in North Carolina. The next month, she declined.
Oct. 24, 2022: Gibson rejects the state’s requests to dismiss the lawsuit and remove legislative leaders as defendants. She did, however, drop plaintiffs’ allegation that the Legislature improperly overrode Proposition 4 — that claim was later revived by the Utah Supreme Court.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Chris Stewart, Rep. John Curtis, and Rep. Burgess Owens at the Utah Republican Party election night party at the Hyatt Regency in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
Nov. 8, 2022: Utah holds its first congressional elections since the new maps were adopted. As expected, all four Republican incumbents win their races.
Nov. 26, 2022: Attorneys for the Legislature ask the Utah Supreme Court to intervene in the gerrymandering dispute after Gibson refuses to throw out the lawsuit.
April 7, 2023: In an amicus brief filed with the Utah Supreme Court and paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee, U.S. Reps. Blake Moore, Chris Stewart, John Curtis and Burgess Owens write, “There’s no constitutional right to be free from partisan gerrymandering.”
Members of the public listen to oral arguments at the Utah Supreme Court in Salt Lake City for a case challenging the state's congressional districts, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
July 11, 2023: Utah Supreme Court justices hear oral arguments over whether the Legislature’s changes to the Better Boundaries initiative overstepped their constitutional authority.
July 11, 2024: The Utah Supreme Court unanimously rules that the Legislature cannot repeal or substantially amend a citizen-passed ballot initiative that reforms government without a compelling reason. The case went back to the district court for Gibson to determine whether lawmakers had a valid reason to rescind key parts of the 2018 Better Boundaries initiative.
Aug. 21, 2024: Legislative leaders exercise emergency authority to call lawmakers into a special session to adopt a proposed constitutional amendment for the 2024 ballot that would overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling and give the Legislature the power to override citizen-passed initiatives.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, discusses a constitutional amendment over citizen initiatives in the Senate during a special session, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
Sept. 12, 2024: Gibson declares lawmakers’ proposal to change initiative powers, called Amendment D, void, citing its deceptive presentation on the ballot and the Legislature’s failure to publish the text of the amendment in newspapers, as required by the Utah Constitution.
Sept. 25, 2024: The Utah Supreme Court unanimously upholds Gibson’s ruling, voiding Amendment D from the November ballot.
Jan. 31, 2025: Attorneys argue their case in Gibson’s court again ahead of her decision. A defendant and Utah’s top election official, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, asks that a ruling come in time for congressional maps to be finalized before Nov. 1 so candidates can file for the 2026 election.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Elizabeth Rasmussen of Better Boundaries speaks at a news conference in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. A judge earlier ruled that the Legislature will have 30 days to adopt new maps that comply with the 2018 Better Boundaries initiative guidelines.
Aug. 25, 2025: Gibson throws out Utah’s congressional maps and orders the Legislature to draw new districts that comply with the 2018 voter-backed Better Boundaries initiative banning partisan gerrymandering.
Aug. 29, 2025: Attorneys will meet with Gibson for a status conference to discuss the next steps in the case.
Sept. 24, 2025: Under Gibson’s ruling, lawmakers must adopt new congressional maps that comply with Proposition 4 by this date.
Nov. 1, 2025: The lieutenant governor’s office asked in court filings that congressional districts be finalized by the beginning of November to allow potential candidates time to decide if they will run in 2026.
Jan. 8, 2026: The one-week filing period for Utah congressional candidates closes.
Nov. 3, 2026: Utah’s four congressional seats will be up for grabs in a mid-term election.
Note to readers • This story has been updated to clarify how lawmakers changed Proposition 4.