Ultimate Victory in Redistricting!

Our movement crushed the illegal attempt by Utah lawmakers to silence voters and gerrymander its congressional maps

In 2018, Utah voters made a clear demand — they passed Proposition 4, a statewide ballot initiative that banned partisan gerrymandering and created an independent redistricting commission. The goal was simple: Voters wanted fair, simple maps.

But the Utah Legislature decided the voters were wrong.

In a bold twist, lawmakers repealed the citizen initiative, threw out the nonpartisan maps, and then drew their own lines to crack open Salt Lake County and dilute minority viewpoints. These legislators locked in safe districts for themselves for the next decade — but to do so, they had to erase the rules the voters of Utah had legally enacted.

You can imagine this didn’t sit well with our movement.

Once elections are over, a lot of politicians expect most citizens to tune out, and the rest to simply accept defeat. But they underestimated the movement holding them accountable. Campaign Legal Center (CLC), our strategic litigation partner, stepped in. CLC filed a landmark lawsuit on behalf of its clients — League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature — who represent Utah voters fighting to reclaim their constitutional right to reform their government.

What followed was a masterclass in legislative arrogance.

Last August, a state court ruled that the legislature’s repeal was unconstitutional (Victory #1!) and reinstated the anti-gerrymandering law passed by citizens. The legislature refused to concede. Lawmakers immediately passed a new gerrymandered map and a companion bill designed to bypass the court ruling.

The court blocked that attempt too, thanks to brilliant legal work by CLC. The judge tossed the rigged map and implemented a fair alternative drawn entirely without partisan data. (Victory #2!)

Desperate to keep their safe districts, lawmakers appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, where CLC again vigorously fought for voters. And last week, the Supreme Court dismissed the lawmakers’ appeal. (Victory #3!)

Allies of the legislature even tried a backdoor play in federal court. They relied on the extreme “independent state legislature” theory, which the U.S. Supreme Court resoundingly rejected years ago. On Monday, a federal court shut down this final desperate attempt, and the clock ran out for the 2026 election. (Victory #4!)

For the first time in decades, Utah will hold a congressional election under a fair map — but not without a Herculean effort by CLC, which Bright America helped fuel through the collective financial and moral support of our members and readers.

This victory defends the core premise of a republic: Voters choose their politicians; politicians do not choose their voters. This case helps build legal precedent and puts other state legislatures on notice that they can’t ignore laws just because it was the citizens that made them.

Complex, multi-year litigation requires serious funding. State legislatures use endless taxpayer money to defend rigged systems, while everyday citizens lack the resources to fight back alone. Such injustice can feel insurmountable, but our movement is lucky to have its own superheroes — they just so happen be exceptionally talented lawyers.

And that’s exactly what we need when politicians anywhere try to crush the public: someone to stop them.