SALT LAKE CITY — A group of county commissioners, along with Congressional representatives Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens, has sued Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson, seeking to block a court-ordered redistricting map from being imposed.
They challenge a judge's ruling that implemented a new map creating a more competitive district that Democrats have clamored to run in. The litigation, filed in a federal court in Salt Lake City, accuses that state court ruling of violating the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
"In one stroke, therefore, Judge Gibson’s decision has effectively displaced the elected representatives of the People of Utah and substituted her own preferred electoral arrangement, drafted by partisan litigants that openly sought to flip one of Utah’s four Republican congressional seats to a Democrat," the lawsuit said.
"The only proper remedy for a court in such circumstances is to enjoin the Lieutenant Governor from implementing an unconstitutional map and either allow the pre-existing 2021 map to remain in effect or to remand to the Legislature to draw a new one."
The lawsuit stems from the litigation brought by Mormon Women for Ethical Government and the League of Women Voters of Utah. They sued the Utah State Legislature, arguing that lawmakers improperly overrode Prop. 4, which voters passed in 2018, creating an independent redistricting commission to draw maps. The legislature has argued that it has the sole constitutional authority to draw redistricting maps.
The legislature rejected the maps and implemented its own map. The plaintiffs argued it was illegal gerrymandering to favor Republicans. Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson sided with the plaintiffs, ordered new maps, then rejected the new map the legislature proposed and chose one that she said complied with Prop. 4's neutral redistricting criteria. It was submitted by the League and MWEG's experts.
The Utah State Legislature's Republican majority is currently in the process of appealing Judge Gibson's rulings to the Utah Supreme Court. They recently filed a motion to stay the new congressional map.
Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson, who has told FOX 13 News in the past she would not defy a court order and will implement the map, declined to comment on Tuesday on the federal lawsuit. Her office said it typically does not comment on pending litigation.
Other plaintiffs include Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner; Washington County Commissioners Victor Iverson and Adam Snow; Beaver County Commissioner Tammy Pearson; and St. George Mayor Jimmie Hughes.
Commissioner Powers Gardner said she was suing in her personal capacity.
"I wanted to join because, as a citizen in Utah, I feel that my rights were being usurped by a state judge, and then on top of that, fulfilling my role to my constituents who I swear an oath to is adversely affected by the fact that we have maps that are being drawn without the input of our legislature," she said in an interview with FOX 13 News, adding: "This is not political theater. This is not an attack on Lt. Gov. Henderson. This is really a call to say process matters and we need to follow the Constitution."
The Utah Republican Party has backed a citizen ballot initiative to undo Prop. 4. The legislature is running a series of bills making changes to the judiciary, including adding two more justices to the Utah Supreme Court and implementing a special "constitutional court" to hear lawsuits against the state. Critics of the legislation have accused lawmakers of putting their thumb on the scale in response to a ruling they did not like.
MWEG did not have a comment on the federal court lawsuit when contacted by FOX 13 News on Tuesday.
"This new lawsuit has no merit and raises the same arguments that Judge Gibson carefully considered and rejected. The map currently in place is fair and legal. We will continue to defend Proposition 4 and the rights of Utah voters," League of Women Voters of Utah President Katharine Biele told FOX 13 News in a statement.
Read the lawsuit here:
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