With just over a month remaining for reelection filings, two Republican members of Congress from Utah are urging a federal court to prevent the implementation of newly drawn U.S. House districts. These new boundaries could potentially increase the likelihood of a Democrat winning a seat in the Salt Lake City area this November.
On Monday, U.S. Representatives Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens, along with nearly a dozen local officials, filed a lawsuit arguing that a state judge overstepped constitutional boundaries last year. This judge dismissed the districts outlined by the Republican-dominated state Legislature and instead adopted an alternative map proposed by groups suing the Legislature.
The lawsuit claims that both the U.S. Constitution and Utah Constitution assign redistricting authority to the state legislature, asserting that “courts have no authority to draw a congressional map.” It demands that Utah revert to the districts approved by the Legislature in 2021 unless new maps are created by lawmakers.
Utah is among several states still entangled in legal disputes over House voting districts as the midterm elections approach later this year.
Recently, a judge in New York ordered a commission to redraw the city’s sole Republican-held U.S. House district, ruling that it unfairly diluted Black and Hispanic votes. Republicans have since filed an appeal.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing an appeal against a Democratic-supported redistricting plan approved by California voters. Additionally, Missouri courts are deliberating on various legal challenges against a newly passed U.S. House map from the state’s Republican-led Legislature.
Redistricting took on an unusual urgency after President Donald Trump prodded Republicans in Texas to reconfigure their U.S. House districts last year to try to give the party an advantage in the midterm election. A mid-decade gerrymandering battle then erupted in several states and is continuing to play out this month in Democratic-led Maryland and Virginia.
Republicans currently hold all four of Utah’s U.S. House seats based on districts drawn by state lawmakers after the 2020 census.
State Judge Dianna Gibson ruled in August that those districts violated anti-gerrymandering provisions approved by voters. In November, Gibson rejected a replacement map passed by the Legislature and instead imposed an alternative map submitted by the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
The revised maps keep Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district, instead of dividing it among all four districts, as was the case previously.
“The map currently in place is fair and legal,” Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, said in response to the new federal lawsuit.
Utah candidates typically must file for election by Jan. 8. But Utah lawmakers pushed back this year’s filing deadline to March 13 for congressional candidates.
Neither Maloy nor Owens has yet filed for reelection, and “their districts have been shifted to a point where the Representatives do not know which district to choose,” their lawsuit states.
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Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed to this report.
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