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Amid all the redistricting chaos going on nationwide, Utah has one of the most closely watched fights in the country right now.
To quickly catch up: It was last year when a district judge in Utah nullified the current congressional map, ruling that it was illegally gerrymandered. The state Legislature later approved a new map that would create two red seats and two more competitive seats.
The judge rejected their map and chose instead a map from the plaintiffs that created a deep blue district in the midst of three deep red districts.
State Republicans appealed the judge’s decision at the end of last year — although the judge has refused to completely close the case, so it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide if they will move forward before the November midterm deadlines.
We don’t know when we will get a final ruling. But a new filing has entered the stage that could make things more complicated — or be a minor bump in the road.
I got a look at this latest challenge, which was filed on behalf of the Utah County clerk last week.
There’s a lot of legal jargon involved with this filing, but I’ll try to break it down as simply as I can.
What it is: The filing is a motion for joinder, which essentially means the Utah County clerk is asking to be included as a party in the League of Women Voters’ lawsuit to overturn the 2021 congressional map. The argument here is that the case can’t be fully resolved without including county clerks because they are the ones who actually take proposed congressional lines and turn them into reality.
“We’re simply referring to the county statutory role in implementing a new congressional map. And we’re saying, without county clerks and county legislative bodies, the court cannot grant full relief to the plaintiffs to what they’re looking for,” Dallin Holt, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the county clerk, told me in an interview.
Holt said the argument relies heavily on what is known as the Purcell Principle, which essentially argues that courts can’t change election rules too close to an election because it causes confusion and administrative risk.
“It’s not dismissing the case. It’s saying we need to go work on this,” Holt said. “We’re too close to an election, and we can’t change things up right now.”
The filing also leans on the fact that county clerks should be involved with these kinds of cases to help avoid mistakes in congressional maps because they know firsthand how the boundaries are implemented. For example, splitting up cities or neighborhoods, which is typically prohibited unless it’s required to even out population sizes between districts.
“There’s split municipalities all over the state right now because of the map. So what do you do with it?” Holt said. “These aren’t difficult fixes. The process in Utah code is you go back and forth. So the lieutenant governor takes the map, passes it down to the counties. The county clerks would then review it, give a proposed ‘Here’s the lines that need to be redrawn to get our precincts the way they need to go to do it.’ The county commission then has to pass that, and the county commission sends that back up to the lieutenant governor, who then reviews.”
It’s not guaranteed that this filing will do much to change anything. But it highlights just how fraught the whole legal battle has been.
Recent polling also reflects this as it shows just how divided Utahns are on the issue — and, really, that neither party has owned the messaging on it yet.
The anti-gerrymandering group Better Boundaries released its own polling this week that the group says shows a majority (64%) of Utah voters support Proposition 4. The question, which opponents say is biased, says: “In 2018, Utah voters passed Proposition 4, a ballot initiative that established the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission and included a set of neutral criteria that all redistricting maps in Utah must follow. Prop 4 also banned the manipulation of election district maps to unfairly benefit one political party (‘gerrymandering’). Do you support or oppose Prop 4?”
Elizabeth Rasmussen, executive director of Better Boundaries, said in a statement the polling shows that “Utahns want to choose their politicians, and they don’t believe that politicians should have the power to choose their voters.”
But a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll conducted in January showed Utah voters were more split — and confused — about the redistricting issue.
Utah Republicans feel the momentum is on their side, especially after President Donald Trump weighed in last weekend to say he supported signature-gathering efforts to put Proposition 4 back on the November ballot to overturn that initiative.
“The Great State of Utah, a place I love and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024, sent four terrific Republicans to Congress, and we want to keep it that way!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “MAKE UTAH, AND AMERICA, GREAT AGAIN!”
We’ll keep an eye on how the legal battles play out, and there are surely many components to watch for.
Stories driving the week
- Noem on ice: A growing number of lawmakers are pushing to remove Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after a month of unrest in Minnesota due to immigration enforcement efforts and her response after the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot by Border Patrol agents.
- Paging Rep. Moore: When Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, joined the Friends of Denmark Caucus, he considered it to be mostly ceremonial. But then Trump’s campaign to seize Greenland ramped up — catapulting Moore into the spotlight as a leading GOP voice on the issue.
- Dem demands: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., laid out the three main demands after a closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats on Wednesday just one day before the Senate is scheduled to vote on the final spending package to fund the federal government.
Maloy faces questions about Minnesota in town hall
Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, faced several questions about the current state of the political atmosphere as well as her response to the fatal ICE shootings in a town hall held Wednesday evening in St. George.
Maloy is one of the first lawmakers to hold public availability like this since the shooting, which has had a ripple effect across the nation as Democrats call for changes to how federal immigration officers operate. Maloy joined other members of the Utah delegation to call for an investigation into the incident, telling attendees she is also concerned with the rhetoric we’ve seen in recent weeks that led up to this point.
“I know a lot of you are here because you’re really upset about what’s happening in Minnesota. I’m also upset about what’s happening in Minnesota,” Maloy said. “My general baseline of what the government should do is: not kill its own citizens. And so we’ve got to do an investigation. We’ve got to get to the bottom of what’s happening there.”
Maloy faced some pushback later in the meeting when an attendee asked about Trump’s rhetoric and the growing political violence we’ve seen over the last year — and how that change starts at the very top of the federal government.
“There’s a healthy level of distrust in our government, we should always have that. We’re at an unhealthy level, and we really need to bring the chaos and the vitriol down,” Maloy said. “I’m going to disagree with part of your question. I don’t think it has to start at the top.”
“I can see skepticism on your faces,” Maloy said. “That’s fair.”
But the congresswoman argued that she can only control what she does and how she communicates. There was some pushback to that, as some attendees argue the president should take more responsibility in calming the rhetoric.
The questions underscore the burning question all lawmakers are facing this week, though: How do we right the ship?
Of course, there aren’t any answers just yet. But hopefully as we move forward, we can find ways to disagree in a healthier way.
Quick hits
From the Hill: Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked at town hall meeting. … Democrats release demands for ICE reform. … Here’s how election laws could change in Utah.
From the White House: Making sense of Trump: What critics and supporters are saying. … Officers placed on leave as Trump border czar Tom Homan takes lead in Minnesota. … National parks in the West are removing signs under Trump administration orders.
From the courts: Fight over immigration in Minnesota also playing out in court. … Tyler Robinson’s defense moves to keep Charlie Kirk shooting video out of court.
What’s next
We are watching to see what Congress can do now that it’s officially in partial-shutdown mode, which went into effect at midnight on Saturday. Things are quickly moving and plans are fluid, so make sure to follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments.
As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers.
