Utah News Dispatch
Utah redistricting lawsuit parties agree on new timeline to redraw congressional map
Mark Gaber, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, as Judge Dianna Gibson holds a hearing on Utah’s congressional maps process, in Salt Lake City on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. Judge Gibson previously ruled — based on a decision last year by the Utah Supreme Court — that the Legislature had violated voters’ constitutional right to make laws when legislators repealed Proposition 4, the citizen-passed Better Boundaries initiative. (Pool photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Attorneys for the Utah Legislature and plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit against the state have agreed on a timeline to redraw Utah’s congressional boundaries.
Third District Judge Dianna Gibson tossed out Utah’s 2021 congressional map in a ruling she issued last week that determined the Utah Legislature unconstitutionally repealed and replaced Better Boundaries’ 2018 voter-approved ballot initiative that sought to create an independent redistricting commission.
Attorneys for both the Legislature and the anti-gerrymandering lawsuit’s plaintiffs agreed on the following deadlines, according to a court filing submitted Thursday:
GOP legislative leaders begrudgingly say they’ll redraw Utah’s congressional map, as court ordered
- Sept. 25: The Utah Legislature will publish its new proposed map.
- Sept. 26 to Oct. 5: Lawmakers will hold a public comment period to take input on the map.
- Oct. 6: The Legislature will take a final vote on the map and submit it to the court for consideration. Plaintiffs will also have the same deadline to submit any proposed maps to the judge.
- Oct. 17: The deadline for both parties to file briefs, expert reports, and other materials in support or opposition to map submissions, if necessary.
- Oct. 23 to Oct. 24: The court will hold an evidentiary hearing, if necessary.
- Oct. 28: The deadline for parties to file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law with the court, if necessary.
- Nov. 10: The latest possible date for the court to select a final map, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.
Previously, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson’s office had told the judge the latest a new map could be adopted would be Nov. 1, in order to give county clerks enough time to finalize precincts before candidates can begin filing in January.
However, earlier this week during a status conference, Gibson asked if there would be any flexibility — even if it’s a matter of days — to push back her previously proposed schedule to give lawmakers more time to submit their maps. In her initial order last week, the judge proposed that deadline to be Sept. 24.
The lieutenant governor’s attorneys said in another court filing earlier this week that they could push the Nov. 1 deadline to Nov. 10.
Additionally, Gibson had included in her initial order the opportunity for “third parties” — in addition to the Legislature and the lawsuit’s plaintiffs — to submit proposed maps. However, in their joint court filing, attorneys for both parties said they “agree that map submissions to the Court should be limited to the existing parties in this case.”
“Third parties have the opportunity to submit proposed maps and comments during the legislative process,” they wrote in Thursday’s filing.
