SALT LAKE CITY — Lawyers for the Utah State Legislature are demanding a stay over the new congressional map in response to issues raised by Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson.
In a ruling Friday, 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson did not decide the legislature's request. But she did promise one soon. Meanwhile, Judge Gibson did authorize Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson to make some minor adjustments to the map.
Lawyers for Lt. Gov. Henderson, who is Utah's top elections officer, pointed out some problems with the newly enacted map. In some instances, they wrote, homes were cut in half by the boundary lines. So was an entire apartment complex in Huntsville. There was a tiny part of a community that was in a different congressional district.
"The Lt. Governor requests clarification regarding whether the several homes identified in the image... should continue to be bisected, or whether the Court wishes to adjust this boundary and, if so, how," her attorneys wrote, attaching maps of the issues.
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Lawyers for the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government asked the judge to allow for some minor tweaks to the map. But the legislature's lawyers pounced and said it comes back to the fundamental constitutional issue that the legislature has the sole power to draw boundaries.
"As for the eight boundary issues identified in the Lieutenant Governor’s motion, Plaintiffs’ counsel can instruct the Lieutenant Governor how to resolve those issues. But in doing so, the constitutional problem—the denial of the Legislature’s constitutional authority to redistrict—only becomes more obvious. The boundary issues further reveal that there was no good reason for taking a Plaintiffs’ proposed map over the Legislature’s duly enacted redistricting legislation," wrote Tyler Green, an attorney for the legislature.
He urged Judge Gibson to revert back to the old congressional map while the legislature pursues appeals.
"The Court notes that Plaintiffs have suggested an approach to making determinations with respect to those issues and the Lieutenant Governor may take those suggestions into consideration when making determinations for implementation. Likewise, as the Lieutenant Governor notes, the Utah Code grants discretion in making determinations should questions subsequently arise," Judge Gibson wrote in her Friday order.
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But she held off on deciding whether to block the case entirely.
"The Court will issue its legal reasoning in support of this Order and will address the request for a stay included in the Legislative Defendants’ response to the Lieutenant Governor’s Notice ... separately. The Court will endeavor to issue that analysis as soon as possible," Judge Gibson wrote.
The League of Women Voters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government sued the Utah State Legislature after it overrode Proposition 4, a citizen ballot initiative for independent redistricting. They alleged the result was a congressional map that was gerrymandering to favor Republicans. Judge Gibson ruled in their favor, upholding Proposition 4 and throwing out the old congressional map.
She ordered the legislature to draw a new map, which they did under protest. The Republican supermajority legislature has maintained it has the sole constitutional power to carry out redistricting. Judge Gibson rejected the map they submitted as not following Prop. 4, which was now law. Instead, she chose a map proposed by the plaintiffs in the litigation that created a more competitive district centered in Salt Lake County.
