Overview
- After a three-hour hearing, a three-judge federal panel took under advisement an injunction request to stop Utah’s court-ordered map and potentially reinstate the 2021 plan.
- U.S. Reps. Burgess Owens and Celeste Maloy joined local officials in arguing Judge Dianna Gibson violated the Elections Clause by voiding the Legislature’s 2021 map and selecting a plaintiff-submitted alternative.
- The judges pressed both sides on standing, late-stage remedies, and precedent on whether state courts may install congressional maps when lawmakers fail to enact a lawful plan.
- The panel granted intervention to the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, which defended Gibson’s process and map selection.
- Utah’s elections office said it needs a ruling by Feb. 23 to reconfigure precincts, while the panel indicated it may wait on a Utah Supreme Court decision expected as early as Friday; the court-imposed map would shift Utah from four Republican-leaning seats to three by creating a Democratic-leaning district.