Can GOP lawmakers impeach a Utah judge for ruling against them in a gerrymandering case?

Within 15 minutes of Utah 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson’s late-night Monday ruling as part of a yearslong redistricting battle, a Republican state lawmaker announced they are seeking her impeachment.

“I have opened a bill to file articles of impeachment against Judge Gibson for gross abuse of power, violating the separation of powers and failing to uphold her oath of office to the Utah Constitution,” Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, wrote in a post on X just before midnight.

Writing that it was an “extreme” partisan gerrymander in violation of an independent redistricting law passed by voters in 2018, known as Proposition 4, Gibson tossed a map drawn and approved by the GOP lawmakers in favor of one plaintiffs proposed.

That map from plaintiffs — the League of Women Voters, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a handful of Utah voters — includes a heavily Democratic-leaning district. All four of Utah’s current congressional representatives are Republicans.

A spokesperson for the Utah House of Representatives did not respond to a request to confirm that MacPherson had opened such a bill file, and as of Tuesday afternoon, one did not appear on the Legislature’s website. The Salt Lake Tribune also asked where House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, stood on the effort.

Legislative leadership issued a statement on the ruling Tuesday afternoon. In it, Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, sharply criticized Gibson — but they did not specify their next steps.

“Judges are meant to uphold the law as written, not rewrite it to serve political ends. Nothing in Utah’s Constitution gives the courts authority to impose maps designed by private groups,” the statement read.

They concluded the statement, writing, “Utahns deserve leaders who will defend their voice, their Constitution, and the balance of powers that make our system work. This moment calls for unity and resolve, to stand together, but firmly, in defense of the principles that make Utah strong and the Republic process we all depend on.”

How lawmakers will “stand together, but firmly” is unclear. Spokespeople for both the Senate and the House did not immediately respond to an email asking for clarification.

At a news conference Tuesday, plaintiffs’ attorney David Reymann — who emphasized he was speaking for himself as a lawyer — said, “If there is really an effort to retaliate against Judge Gibson, I think that the legal community as a whole will stand up and defend her full-throatedly, and they should.

“She is an unbelievably respected judge in the community. She has done a fantastic job in this case, whether you agree with her decision or not. She has done a role that the Constitution committed to her, and to suggest that she should be removed from office just because you don’t like, politically, the result that she has reached, I think is highly irresponsible,” he told reporters.

Picked, then reviled, by Republicans

Gibson was appointed to the bench in 2018 by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, and the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee unanimously recommended her approval. She was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate without opposition.

The district judge faced her first retention election in 2022.

Ahead of her name appearing on that ballot, 11 members of Utah’s Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission agreed that she exceeded performance standards, and none dissented. Three-quarters of voters in the 3rd judicial district — covering Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties — also approved of her continuing service.

No state judge has been impeached in Utah. In 2003, the House voted 66-9 to begin an impeachment investigation into 4th District Judge Ray Harding Jr., who had been charged with drug possession. Harding resigned from the bench, pleaded guilty to the drug charges and was stripped of his law license by the Utah Supreme Court.

To impeach a judge or other state official, a representative — such as MacPherson — must introduce a resolution to do so, and two-thirds of the House must approve it. Then, the Senate holds a hearing on the articles of impeachment, and to secure a conviction, two-thirds of senators must agree to it.

In his less than two years as the current House speaker, Schultz has threatened multiple judges with impeachment.

And Republican lawmakers have been outspoken in their criticism of Gibson’s previous rulings in the case — and have been increasingly hostile toward courts that rule against other laws they have passed.

In August, after Gibson ruled that Proposition 4 was the law in Utah and that the Legislature must replace congressional maps the state has relied on since 2022, Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, said on social media that her decision ignored the Constitution.

Then, McCay asked, “Could Judge Gibson be the first judicial removal for ignoring the Utah Constitution that she took an oath to uphold?”

During an October special session of the Legislature convened to comply with Gibson’s order to pick a new map, some Republicans seemed to warn of a possible impeachment effort if the district court did not accept the new boundaries lawmakers chose.

As he stood on the Senate floor ahead of casting a “yea” vote for the Republican Legislature’s preferred map, Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, declared, “It would be a malfeasance in office — a malfeasance in office for a court to attempt to accept a map that has not been approved by the Legislature.”

Those words from the senator, who is also an attorney, were a direct quote from Utah’s impeachment code: " ... judicial officers shall be liable to impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors or malfeasance in office."

When asked during a news conference after the Legislature adjourned whether he intended to reference impeachment, Brammer deferred to the House of Representatives, which has the sole power to vote to bring such articles ahead of a Senate trial.

“I’ll just be very blunt,” Schultz, who was also at the news conference, responded. “The Legislature will do all we can to protect the power given to it in the constitution in Article 9. Nowhere in the constitution does it allow for a judge to be able to pick a map, and we will adamantly defend that to whatever means necessary,” he told reporters.

After Monday night’s ruling, other Republicans took aim at the district judge on social media, questioning whether Gibson is fit for the bench.

“This is a clear example of judicial activism,” wrote Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, who cochairs the Legislative Redistricting Committee, in a post. “One unelected judge decided that her personal opinion outweighs Utah’s Constitution and the will of the people — and that’s unacceptable. Our Constitution should be interpreted, not rewritten from the bench. Utahns deserve judges who uphold the law as written, not manipulate it to advance their own agenda.”

In a statement shared to X on Tuesday morning, Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson appeared to be calling for Gibson to resign from her role.

“This is not interpretation,” Axson wrote of the ruling. “It is the arrogance of a judge playing King from the bench. … We invite Judge Gibson to leave the bench and run for the legislature to pursue her policy preferences.”

Lawmakers have also indicated that they could seek to punish Utah’s top elections official, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican, for heeding Gibson’s order.

When Brammer spoke on the Senate floor in October, he also said he believes it would be malfeasance “for the lieutenant governor to certify and use a map that has not been approved by the Legislature.”

Early Tuesday morning, Henderson said she would comply with Gibson’s ruling and implement the map that the court determined adheres to the law, unless an appeals court orders otherwise.

Later, the lieutenant governor wrote on X, “Barring an appellate court ruling, we must begin without delay to ensure that everything is in place for candidate filing in January. The people of Utah deserve an orderly and fair election and we will do everything in our power to administer one.”