If state Rep. Matt (impeach Judge Gibson) MacPherson took time from his “trade mission” — aka vacation in India — and actually read Gibson’s 90-page decision, he might learn the following:
If state Rep. Matt (impeach Judge Gibson) MacPherson took time from his “trade mission” — aka vacation in India — and actually read Gibson’s 90-page decision, he might learn the following:
1 • That Judge Gibson originally ruled against the plaintiffs. The Utah Supreme Court (all appointed by Republican governors) then ruled that the Legislature was wrong in striking down and/or amending Proposition 4. The Utah Supreme Court ordered Judge Gibson to hear the evidence and to rule on a map that would be in accordance with Proposition 4.
2. That the schedule Judge Gibson used was agreed to by the Legislature’s attorneys.
3. That the people who designed the partisan bias test that was enacted as a law by the Legislature to amend Proposition 4 stated that their test should not be used in a state like Utah.
4. That the Legislature’s expert witness, Dr. Katz, did not even look at Proposition 4’s guidelines which the Utah Supreme Court had ordered should be used.
5. That the Legislature’s other expert, Dr. Trende, ignored Proposition 4’s guidelines regarding not using partisan data and also admitted that there were “multiple errors in his report.”
6. Finally, if he read the extremely detailed 90-page order, Matt MacPherson might learn that the evidence is so overwhelming for the proponents of Proposition 4 that Judge Gibson should be impeached if she had ruled for the Legislature.
Bob Gilchrist, Millcreek
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