Judge Dianna Gibson holds a hearing on Utah’s congressional maps process, in Salt Lake City on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. Judge Gibson previously ruled — based on a decision last year by the Utah Supreme Court — that the Legislature had violated voters’ constitutional right to make laws when legislators repealed Proposition 4, the citizen-passed Better Boundaries initiative. (Pool photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson issued a decision late Tuesday denying Utah lawmakers’ attorneys’ request to push pause on her ruling last week that tossed out the state’s current congressional boundaries and ordered lawmakers to draw a new map.
“By granting a stay and proceeding with the 2026 election under the current 2021 Congressional Plan, this Court would be sanctioning the Legislature’s violation of the people’s constitutional right to reform their government through redistricting legislation,” the judge wrote in the decision.
Last week, Gibson ruled the Utah Legislature unconstitutionally overturned Better Boundaries’ ballot initiative known as Proposition 4, a voter-approved law that created an independent redistricting commission meant to prevent partisan gerrymandering. The 2021 Utah Legislature repealed and replaced it with a new law, SB200, which turned that commission into an advisory body that lawmakers could ignore — which they ultimately did when they adopted the 2021 congressional map.
Delaying the order “would sanction the wholesale repeal of Proposition 4 and would irreparably harm the people of Utah,” the judge wrote Tuesday. “Given the Court’s ruling, this Court cannot conclude that a ‘stay’ would be just under the circumstances.”
Gibson’s ruling has major implications for the future of Utah’s federal political landscape. Before the 2021 map was adopted, one of Utah’s four U.S. House seats was competitive for Democrats. Today, Republicans consistently dominate all four.
Her ruling comes during a time when fights over redistricting are on the national stage. While redistricting efforts in Texas, California and other states are playing out mid-decade — fueled by President Donald Trump’s aim to bolster the U.S. House’s slim GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections — Utah’s effort for an independent and nonpartisan process is court ordered.
Gibson, in her decision issued Tuesday, said the state could set itself apart from other states.
“Utah has an opportunity to be different,” the judge wrote. “While other states are currently redrawing their congressional plans to intentionally render some citizen votes meaningless, Utah could redesign its congressional plan with an intention to protect its citizens’ right to vote and to ensure that each citizen’s vote is meaningful.”
Gibson also acknowledged that the “timing of this ruling,” along with the injunction on the 2021 Congressional Map, “presents challenges for the Legislature … to accomplish its duty” to draw a new map in compliance with Proposition 4 in time for the 2026 elections.
In an effort to address those timing challenges, Gibson asked the lieutenant governor’s office if there would be any flexibility — even if it’s a matter of days — to push back the previously set deadline of Nov. 1 for the court to select a new map while also allowing enough time for counties to finalize their precincts before candidates can begin filing in January.
In a court filing also submitted Tuesday, attorneys for Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson wrote that after consulting with county clerks “and due to the extenuating circumstances of this litigation, the deadline for congressional map submission for this election cycle is Nov. 10, 2025.”
Given that new deadline, it’s likely Gibson will offer some adjustments to the proposed timeline she included in her order last week, which gave lawmakers, plaintiffs and third parties until Sept. 24 to submit their proposed congressional maps for the court to choose from.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX