Time Line

Source - Salt Lake Tribune “How we got here: Utah’s multi year battle over gerrymandering”

Robert Gehrke & Emily Anderson Stern

August 26, 2025 Updated August 29, 2025

11/6/2018 voters passed Proposition 4 - a ballot initiate create an independent redistricting commission to draw voting maps (passes 50.3%).

2/27/2020 Legislative Session bill SB200 passed to address changes in the initiative making the Commission purely advisory, removed the ban on partisan gerrymandering, but not repeal

the 2018 measure. Signed by Governor Gary Herbert.

2/1/2021 Picks for independent redistricting commission named by: 1 member appointment by the Governor (Governor Cox), 1 member appointed by majority party of Utah Senat, 1 member appointed by majority party of Utah House of Representatives, 1 member appointed by minority party of Utah Senate, 1 member appointed by minority party of Utah House of Representatives. These five select two additional “at large” members from list of candidates provided by Utah. Legislative General Counsel, not be registered with either major political party.

11/1/2021 Independent Redistricting Commission submits 12 unanimously recommended maps to the Legislature’s redistricting committee. Among them, were three for congressional boundaries.

11/8/2021 Legislature’s redistricting committee votes to reject the maps and publishes their own which splits Salt Lake County into four districts.

3/17/2022 League of Women Voters, MWEG, and seven Plaintiffs file lawsuit.

5/2/2022 Legislature’s attorneys ask 3rd District Judge Gibson to dismiss lawsuit saying it’s a political issue, not a legal issue.

7/26/22 Legislature’s attorneys unsuccessfully ask Judge Gibson to pause until a North Carolina Supreme Court case is decided. She declined.

10/24/2022 Judge Gibson rejects state’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, but dropped plaintiffs’ allegations that Legislature improperly overrode Prop 4 (claim later revived by Utah Supreme

Court).

11/26/2022 Attorneys for Legislature asks Utah Supreme Court to intervene in the gerrymandering dispute after Judge Gibson refuses to through out the lawsuit.

4/7/2023. Amicus brief filed with Utah Supreme Court by US Reps. Blake Moore, Chris Stewart, John Curtis & Burgess Owens states, “There is no constitutional right to be free from

partisan gerrymandering.”

7/11/23 Utah Supreme Court hears oral arguments over whether the Legislature’s changes to Prop 4 overstepped their constitutional authority.

7/11/2024 Utah Supreme Court unanimously rules that the Legislature cannot repeal or substantially amend a citizen-passed ballot initiative that reforms government without a

compelling reason.

8/21/2024 Legislative leaders, under emergency authority, call a special session to adopt a proposed constitutional amendment (Amendment D) for the 2024 ballot to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling and give the Legislature the power to override citizen-passed initiatives.

9/12/2024. Judge Gibson declares Amendment D void citing its deceptive presentation on the ballot and the Legislature’s failure to publish the text of the amendment in newspapers, as required by the Utah Constitution.

9/25/24 Utah Supreme Court unanimously upholds Gibson’s ruling, voiding Amendment D from the ballot.

1/31/25 Argued in Judge Gibson’s court again. Lt Gov. Henderson asks that a ruling come in time for congressional maps to be finalized before November 1 so candidates can file for the 2026 election.

8/25/2025 Judge Gibson throws out congressional maps and orders Legislature to draw new districts that comply with the 2018 initiative (Proposition 4) banning partisan gerrymandering.

8/29/2025 Attorneys meet with Judge Gibson for a status conference to discuss the next steps in the case and timeline.

9/24/2025 Lawmakers must adopt new congressional maps that comply with Proposition 4 by this date.

11/1/2025 Lt Gov office asked that congressional districts be finalized by this date.