Overview
- District Judge Dianna Gibson rejected the Legislature’s remedial “Map C” as an extreme partisan outlier and adopted plaintiffs’ “Map 1” for 2026.
- The court-selected plan, drawn by the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, keeps most of Salt Lake County within one district and is expected to favor Democrats there.
- Gibson said partisan data was impermissibly used in the GOP plan and ruled just before the cutoff the lieutenant governor set for counties to prepare candidate filings.
- Republican leaders condemned the decision as judicial overreach and are pursuing emergency appeals while discussing options including impeachment, deadline changes, and efforts targeting Proposition 4.
- The ruling strengthens Democrats’ chances to flip one of Utah’s four U.S. House seats for the first time since early 2021 and factors into a wider mid‑decade map fight that includes GOP pushes encouraged by President Donald Trump and Democratic moves such as California’s Prop. 50.