Case: League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature

In 2018, a coalition of Utah voters passed Proposition 4 (Prop 4), prohibiting partisan gerrymandering and establishing the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission (the Commission). The Utah legislature overruled the will of voters in 2020 by voting to replace Prop 4 with S.B. 200, which rescinded the ban on partisan gerrymandering and other government reforms. S.B. 200 kept the Commission in a solely advisory capacity, with the legislature giving itself the authority to discard nonpartisan maps. Utah's resulting 2021 Congressional map "cracked" Salt Lake County, home to the largest concentration of non-Republican voters, among all four congressional districts, rather than drawing a district corresponding to the county.

On March 16, 2022, the League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, and seven qualified, registered voters in Utah who, the plaintiffs argued, would live in the same district under a neutral plan, filed suit against the Utah Legislature, the Committee, and various state legislators in their official capacities in the Third Judicial District Court for Salt Lake County. Plaintiffs' representation included the Campaign Legal Center. Plaintiffs claimed that the 2021 Congressional Plan violated the Free Elections, Equal Protection, Free Speech and Association, Affirmative Right to Vote, and Citizen Lawmaking Authority to Alter or Reform Government clauses of the Utah Constitution. Plaintiffs sought to enjoin S.B. 200 and reinstate Prop 4 before the 2024 elections.

On August 22, 2022, Judge Dianna M. Gibson of the Third Judicial District Court for Salt Lake County denied defendants' motion to stay the proceedings pending the Supreme Court's decision about whether the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars state courts from reviewing and replacing congressional districting maps drawn by state legislatures in Moore v. Harper. The court determined that the timing and uncertain impact of Moore on this case meant a stay pending the Supreme Court's decision was not justified. 

The court heard oral argument on August 24, 2022. On October 24, 2022, the court issued a summary ruling denying in part and granting in part Defendants' motion to dismiss. The court denied defendants' motion to dismiss the Free Elections Clause, Equal Protection, Free Speech and Association, and Affirmative Right to Vote claims. The court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the unauthorized repeal of Prop 4 in violation of the Utah Constitution's Citizen Lawmaking Authority to Alter or Reform Government claim. The court planned to issue a full written decision shortly.