In a unanimous decision, the Utah Supreme Court decided Thursday that Utah citizens have a constitutional right to reform their government in response to past redistricting efforts that divided Salt Lake City into four congressional districts. These efforts resulted in Republicans winning by a large margin. The decision is detailed in the court’s opinion document.
The Utah League of Women Voters contended that the majority party in the Salt Lake City Legislature engaged in “cracking,” a tactic that divides voters for other parties among multiple districts, preventing them from achieving a majority in any of the districts. This practice was notably cited in the upset of Democratic Representative Jim Matheson in both 2000 and 2010, when the Salt Lake City district map was redrawn to combine urban voters with those in rural Utah, diluting urban votes.
The court’s ruling invoked Article 1, Section 2 of the Utah Constitution, which asserts that the people have the right to reform their government as public welfare may require. This principle was utilized under The Citizen Initiative to Reform Redistricting and Prohibit Partisan Gerrymandering, passed by the Utah League of Women Voters in 2018. The initiative aimed to minimize division of counties, create geographically cohesive districts, and maximize alignment of boundaries between districts. It also established the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission to draft district maps for legislative approval without amendments or rejection only with an explanatory rationale.
Tensions escalated in 2021 when the Utah Legislature formed the Legislature Redistricting Committee, which ignored the findings of the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission following the repeal of the Citizen Initiative by S.B. 200. Consequently, the Commission’s role was significantly weakened, with reduced transparency and diminished mechanisms to prevent gerrymandering.
The Utah Supreme Court concluded that the Utah residents’ right to alter and reform their government must remain uninhibited by government burdens, notwithstanding the Legislature’s authority to repeal statutes. The Utah League of Women Voters lawsuit challenging the gerrymandering will now continue in District Court.
Further details can be found in the full article on JURIST.