Utah Judge Rejects GOP Bid to Block Fairer Map for 2026 Elections

[riversedge]

Good --at least Utah voters will have a chance to make the right choice!!




Utah Judge Rejects GOP Bid to Block Fairer Map for 2026 Elections
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/utah-judge-rejects-gop-bid-to-block-fairer-map/


By Yunior Rivas December 5, 2025


A Utah judge Friday refused to halt her landmark ruling that struck down the GOP-led legislature’s gerrymander. The decision means the court-ordered, fairer map — which gives Democratic and independent voters a meaningful chance at representation — remains on track for the 2026 elections.

Judge Dianna Gibson denied the Legislature’s attempt to pause her ruling, entirely rejecting Republicans’ claims that they were boxed out of the appeals process.



In the ruling, Gibson wrote that “the Legislative Defendants’ assertion that they have ‘had no opportunity to appeal’ in this case” was unsupported and that lawmakers presented “no evidence to show that they were prevented from appealing” any of the court’s major orders — including the rulings issued on Aug. 25, Sept. 6 and Nov. 10.

The judge went further, noting that GOP lawmakers were responsible for their own delay.

“A simple review of the docket, the parties’ filings, and the audio recordings of the August 29, 2025 hearing and the scheduling discussion at the end of the October 24, 2025 hearing reveals the opposite,” Gibson wrote. “Any suggestion that this Court delayed issuing any ruling to force compliance with the remedial process or to preclude an appeal is unfounded.”....................