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Posted on 08/26/2025 8:16:51 AM PDT by DFG
A judge on Monday ordered the Republican-dominated Utah legislature to redraw its congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms, after the body appeared to ignore safeguards voters put in place to ensure districts aren’t gerrymandered.
The Congressional map, which was drawn in 2021, divided the Democratic Salt Lake County into the state's four districts, which diluted Democratic influence. The districts have since been won by Republican candidates, per the Associated Press.
U.S. District Court Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that the maps need to be redone because state lawmakers ignored an independent commission that was established by voters to limit partisan gerrymandering.
"[The violation lies in] the legislature’s refusal to respect the people’s exercise of their constitutional lawmaking power and to honor the people’s right to reform their government,” Gibson wrote in the ruling.
The ruling comes as redistricting feuds dominate state politics ahead of the midterms. The feud picked up when Texas debated its map, which it adopted last week and potentially gives Republicans five more seats in Congress. California then advanced an effort to redo its map to offset the Republican advances in Texas.
Democratic leaders in New York and Illinois have also floated redoing their maps to help offset Texas' gains, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his state's efforts to redo its districts come after blue states were already gerrymandered.
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As long as a district isn’t drawn to discriminate against people on the basis of race, sex, gender, national origin, or other unconstitutional reasons, political party is perfectly okay..................
Utah Congressional districts.
Funny how the Judges have no problem with the rat rigged districts.
First of all, this isn’t gerrymandering, at least in the original sense, because they aren’t drawing strongly irregular and amorphous shapes.
However, I get why it could construed as ‘gerrymandering’ under the political sense, because they have observed a contiguous area or voting demographic and targeted it for division.
Still, maps like that can actually backfire.
For example, if Salt Lake city is your dominant population center and it’s population votes heavily one way, you could actually try to split it up and combine it with few enough voters of the opposite party in order to get more seats out of that city.
In other words, the democrat strategy to get more seats by expanding out the influence of salt lake city could be very similar to a republican strategy to dilute salt lake city’s influence.
If they were trying prop up black votes in Utah....state-wide, there are only 2.5-percent. Hispanic-wise, maybe up around 15-to-17 percent....but that counted in illegals. If they clean their voting lists...probably half of the Hispanic voters are going to be removed and of no value.
the legislature’s refusal to respect the people’s exercise of their constitutional lawmaking power
The legislature elected by the people exercises its constitutional lawmaking power -- so, no. Another astroturf judge from the DNC, unfit for the bench.
Activist judges pulled this crap in Ohio too.
The maps were not oddly funky or random looking in most places, but the judge was going to keep rejecting the maps that the redistricting commission submitted until they favored democrats. No matter what the commission did, it wasn’t good enough until it gained democrats as many seats as possible. Obviously the judge would not admit that, but that’s the result of submitting relatively fair maps.
In this day of fair housing mandates, why are drawn districts even a concern? People can live wherever they want and can afford.
“For example, if Salt Lake city is your dominant population center and it’s population votes heavily one way, you could actually try to split it up and combine it with few enough voters of the opposite party in order to get more seats out of that city.
In other words, the democrat strategy to get more seats by expanding out the influence of salt lake city could be very similar to a republican strategy to dilute salt lake city’s influence.”
Yes, Republicans did this in Utah in the most recent redistricting.
As I pointed out at the time, Nevada Democrats did EXACTLY the same thing with Las Vegas. They took a city which had 1 solid Rat district and 2 marginal ones — then turned CD-1 from solid into semi-solid and pushed CD-3 and CD-4 into less marginal status. Rats have won all 3 Las Vegas districts every 2 years.
Why haven’t Republicans found a judge who would require Nevada to undo the Democrat gerrymander? Perhaps because only Democrat judges get to decide redistricting cases?
P.S. The Nevada STATE House is Democrat-gerrymandered to an even more thorough degree than the U.S. House districts and the state Senate is in that direction as well, but not as blatantly.
In the U.S., gerrymandering is generally o.k. By Congressional law, districts must be contiguous and furthermore, by reason of the VRA as most recently interpreted by the Supreme Court, if some districts can reasonably be drawn to be majority-minority, they must be (the Court is soon to issue further guidance).
By STATE law, some states are required to draw districts that respect local communities of interest (effectively, counties and municipalities) (meaning, you’re supposed to minimize the splitting of counties and cities) and possibly to be “compact” (whatever that means). Also, some states have “non-partisan commissions” that draw districts (versus having the legislature draw districts).
Turning to Utah, the state legislature dismissed its commission and drew Congressional districts directly that split Salt Lake City and its near suburbs into all four Congressional districts. The resultant map looks pretty smooth. No districts creeping in and out of other districts. But, this smoothness hides the four-way split of Salt Lake County.
This particular form of gerrymandering, by the way, is called “cracking” or “bacon stripping,” and sometimes it’s done for the advantage of the Rs and sometimes for the advantage of the Ds.
Utah is so overwhelming Republican, it shouldn’t be difficult for the Republicans to split Salt Lake County only once (not four times) and still wind up with four districts that at least lean Republican. The masterful job done by the state legislature made all four districts about as Republican as the state as a whole, but the state legislature didn’t obey state law.
Okay...how? It doesn’t make any difference where the voter is standing when they cast votes. It is if the message of the party is good and is the decision of the voter to go with it. And this is falling into the same strategy the liberals have used for over a century to just vote democratic and not for the need or even a decided agenda they think they can control.
Look at the 2024, Trump collected votes from among everyone and Harris only from democrat and sure things they concentrated on. So what did Harris lose? Her own party and those she thought they had in the bag. And it was because they had no message. So while they were trying to demonize Trump, he was allowing them to self destruct. And it hasn’t gotten any better since last November. Factly, it’s gotten worse.
And as the voters in these same locations continue to worry about themselves going under due to failed liberals agendas, standing in the same situation they had before with the improved life they are living, is it really about party or success? And that’s what got the liberals beat in 2024. They couldn’t make Trump worse than their failures and punishing of the voters.
wy69
Indeed.
Agreed. 100%
They only rule if they get a lawsuit. Republicans never sue for fairness. Democrats do. That’s why they have to redo the map in Mississippi and now Utah.
“state lawmakers ignored an independent commission”
What an ass judge. Maybe the lawmakers didn’t ignore the commission but instead considered its positon and then rejected it. Unless the law says the lawmakers MUST follow the commissions recommendations this judge is abusing her authority. The lawmakers are elected by the people, the commission is not.
Federal Judge - State Law. I don’t see the connection.
Nashville votes heavily Democrat and used to be represented in Congress by a Democrat. Tennessee Republicans gerrymandered the district so now there is only one Democrat from Tennessee in Congress (the execrable Steve Cohen in Memphis). Maybe the Democrats will find a judge in Tennessee to take notice of what happened in Utah and order the legislature to create a Democrat-friendly district in the Nashville area.
Understand how this works.
If a Republican state gerrymanders, IT IS BAD AND MUST OVERTURNED.
If a Democrat state gerrymanders, IT IS GOOD AND MUST BE UPHELD.
By definition “district” is a geographical entity. Sometimes certain groups self-select to live in “ghettos”. Sometimes building and zoning codes create these “ghettos”. If one is against “ghettos” then change/stop zoning law that creates ghettos.
But ideally a district is drawn DEI-agnostic and not intentially Pro or Anti DEI.
Ideally Draw districts that are squares/hexagons/octagons as compact as possible.
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