The Utah Supreme Court has rejected state lawmakers’ emergency request to let them keep using Utah's 2021 congressional maps in the 2026 midterm elections. A lower court threw those boundaries out.
The Legislature, justices wrote, had “not shown that the district court abused its discretion in denying their request. Accordingly, we deny the petition for extraordinary relief.”
In late August, Utah Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson ruled the Legislature had acted unconstitutionally and therefore the state’s 2021 congressional map could no longer be used. That meant new boundaries needed to be drawn in time for the 2026 midterm elections.
State lawmakers first asked Gibson to pause her ruling, which Gibson denied. The Legislature’s petition to the Utah Supreme Court focused on Gibson’s refusal to halt her own ruling and accused the lower court of having “abused its discretion.”
But the justices wrote in their Sept. 15 opinion that the Legislature’s “complaints about the remedial process do not demonstrate that the court’s denial of the stay order is legally wrong or that the court otherwise abused its discretion. Without that, they have not shown why they should receive the extraordinary relief they seek here.”
With that petition denied, the Legislature will have to move forward with redrawing the state’s congressional maps.
The map has to be finalized by Nov. 10 in order to be used in the 2026 midterms. A schedule agreed to by both sides in the case stipulates that lawmakers have to publicly release their proposed map on Sept. 25.
Better Boundaries, the group behind the 2018 citizen-approved redistricting ballot initiative at the center of this case, said the Utah Supreme Court’s decision “reinforces the Third District Court ruling last month.”
Executive director Elizabeth Rasmussen added that any “Further delay would be in direct opposition to the principles of the Utah Constitution.” The statement concluded that “today’s decision keeps the process moving and affirms the principle that voters, not politicians, choose their representatives.”
State lawmakers had asked Gibson to pause her order throwing out the maps while the state potentially appealed the overall district court ruling to the Utah Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Those potential appeals are still on the table. The Utah Supreme Court ruled last year that the Legislature exceeded its authority when it altered Proposition 4.
This years-long lawsuit was started by the League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a handful of Salt Lake County voters. They alleged the Legislature acted unconstitutionally when it significantly altered the 2018 ballot initiative and also accused them of gerrymandering.
Legislative leaders have repeatedly maintained that the U.S. and Utah constitutions give them ultimate authority to draw districts.
