Third District Judge Dianna Gibson has issued a Rule 54(b) certification, specifically granting the Utah Legislature permission to immediately appeal her Aug. 25 ruling to the state Supreme Court. This specific ruling preliminarily voided Utah’s 2021 congressional map and blocked SB200, a law that repealed a 2018 voter-approved initiative (Proposition 4) designed to ban partisan gerrymandering. While Gibson agreed that the public interest is served by a faster resolution, she scolded the Legislature’s attorneys for failing to appeal sooner, noting they offered “no legitimate explanation” for ignoring previous opportunities to challenge her orders over the preceding four months.
The outcome of any appeal could significantly impact the 2026 midterm elections, as the current court-ordered map establishes a Democratic-leaning district in Salt Lake County, whereas the voided map featured four Republican-leaning districts. In tandem with the legal challenge, Republican leaders have taken legislative action to delay candidate filing deadlines and have initiated a signature-gathering campaign for a 2026 ballot initiative to repeal the ban on partisan gerrymandering. The Utah Supreme Court could now be tasked with deciding a fundamental constitutional question: whether the Legislature maintains exclusive authority over redistricting or if it must share that responsibility with citizens exercising their right to reform government through initiatives.
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