Case Summary
The League of Women Voters of Utah ("LWVUT"), Mormon Women for Ethical Government ("MWEG"), and individual plaintiffs moved to intervene to defend fair congressional maps, which had replaced a prior partisan gerrymander. LWVUT and its co-intervenors had been plaintiffs in a state court lawsuit which challenged the Utah legislature’s decision to overturn Proposition 4, an independent redistricting initiative enacted by voters in 2018. That suit also challenged the legislature’s illegal gerrymander after the 2020 Census. Several months after a state court struck down the illegal gerrymander and approved a fair congressional map, plaintiffs filed a lawsuit asserting the state court had no power to select a remedial map, and that the legislature had the sole power to pass new maps, under the fringe “Independent State Legislature” theory.
Utah's Battle for Fair Maps
In 2018, Utah voters enacted Proposition 4, which created the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission and imposed several requirements for drawing congressional and state legislative districts. Among these restrictions was a ban on partisan gerrymandering. The Commission was charged with drawing and submitting Utah’s congressional and state legislative districts to the Legislature for approval.
In 2020, the Republican controlled-Utah Legislature enacted Senate Bill 200, which made dramatic alterations to Proposition 4. SB 200 repealed the ban on partisan gerrymandering and reduced the Commission to an advisory role, allowing the Legislature to draw illegally gerrymandered districts and ignore the Commission’s proposals.
Subsequently, in March 2022, the League of Women Voters of Utah (“LWVUT”), Mormon Women for Ethical Government (“MWEG”), and several individual plaintiffs filed a state court lawsuit to challenge the gerrymandered maps. On August 25, 2025, a state court struck down the unconstitutional congressional districts and, after the legislature enacted a new partisan gerrymandered congressional map, Map C, selected a remedial map proposed by the plaintiffs on November 10, 2025. The defendants appealed this ruling to the Utah Supreme Court, which is still in progress.
Plaintiffs ask to overturn fair maps
On February 2, 2026, a group of plaintiffs, including several local Republican officials and United States Representatives, filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, asserting the Election Clause of the United States Constitution, forbids state courts from imposing remedial maps and only the state legislature can pass new maps when the original map is struck down. This assertion stems from a theory known as the “Independent State Legislature” theory, which suggests that state courts may not hear cases on laws enacted by state legislatures that regulate federal elections. This theory has been rejected by courts, most recently in 2023, when the United States Supreme Court ruled against it in Moore v. Harper. Multiple Leagues filed an amicus brief in the case urging the Court to reject the theory and support the ability of state courts to rule in favor of fair maps.
On February 7, 2026, LWVUT, MWEG and several individual voters moved to intervene to defend the state’s fair maps against the Utah legislators’ attempts to overrule the will of Utah voters.
Litigation is ongoing.
LWVUT is represented in this matter by Campaign Legal Center, Zimmerman Booher, and Parr Brown Gee & Loveless.
LWV Timeline
Plaintiffs file lawsuit
Several plaintiffs file a federal lawsuit asserting Utah state courts cannot impose remedial maps under the Elections Clause of the United States Constitution and ask for the original partisan gerrymander to be reinstated.
LWVUT moves to intervene
LWVUT, MWEG, and several individual voters move to intervene in the case to defend the fair maps.
Plaintiffs file motion for preliminary injunction
The plaintiffs ask the court to replace the maps imposed by the state trial court with either the original gerrymandered 2021 map, or to allow the legislature to draw a new map of its own.
Three-judge panel appointed
As provided for in 22 USC §2284, the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit appoints a three-judge panel, consisting of Judges Timothy M. Tymkovich, Robert J. Shelby, and Holly L. Teeter.
LWVUT intervention is granted
The three-judge panel grants LWVUT's motion for intervention.
Three-judge panel denies preliminary injunction
The three-judge panel refuses to grant a preliminary injunction, ruling that, since the primary election and caucus campaigns were already underway, it was too late to change the maps without confusing voters. The panel also ruled that, under the case's specific facts, the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed in their case on the merits, and that federal law authorized the state court to impose remedial maps.