Prop 4

In an opinion that came down late Monday night, “the Court finds that Map C [the Legislature’s map] was drawn with the purpose to favor Republicans,” wrote Judge Dianna Gibson.

The Utah Legislature passed a law dictating how congressional maps can be tested for partisan favoritism. Plaintiffs argue it’s an attempt to get around the state’s ban on gerrymandering.

On day two of the hearing over Utah’s redistricting, the Legislature put forward its own academic experts. They, predictably, presented the opposing view of what the plaintiff’s experts had to say the day before.

The 2018 citizen-approved anti-gerrymandering redistricting law is at the center of Utah’s current mid-decade map battle.

Utah’s redistricting lawsuit was back in court for the start of a two-day hearing. On day one, the plaintiff’s witnesses took the stand to argue against the Legislature’s map.

La Legislatura ha tomado una decisión sobre qué mapa quiere para representar los distritos congresionales de Utah. Ahora será enviado al juez Gibson como parte del proceso de redistribución de distritos ordenado por el tribunal en Utah.

The Legislature has made its call on which map it wants to represent Utah’s congressional districts. It will now be sent to Judge Gibson as part of Utah’s court-ordered redistricting process.

The Legislature faces an Oct. 6 deadline to vote on a new congressional map in Utah’s court-ordered redistricting.

The public will have 10 days to weigh in on the proposed maps before the Utah Legislature picks one Oct. 6. Then the map goes back to court.

Five new congressional maps are public. Utah’s biggest county is still getting split up, and the GOP could still bake in an electoral advantage.

Thatcher drew his own map to get people talking. The Utah Legislature will publish its proposed map, after a court voided the current congressional map, on Sept. 25.

This means the lower court’s decision that tossed out Utah’s current congressional maps still stands.