State Supreme Court shuts down GOP scheme to undo citizen gerrymandering reforms

The Utah GOP was dealt a blow Thursday as the state Supreme Court shut down their backdoor attempt to repeal citizen-led reforms against partisan gerrymandering in the state.

The case concerned whether the Republican-controlled legislature could move ahead with giving voters a referendum on "Amendment D," which was effectively an attempt to retroactively make legal a bill they passed to shut down redistricting reform.

The controversy began in 2018, when Utah voters approved Proposition 4, or the "Better Boundaries" plan, which would establish an independent redistricting commission to draw fair congressional maps for the state. The measure passed decisively — but before the redistricting cycle began, Republicans passed Senate Bill 200, which effectively gutted Proposition 4 by reducing the commission to an advisory role and clarifying the legislature can still draw whatever map it wants.

Accordingly, in 2021, Utah legislators drew an aggressive Republican gerrymander that carved up Salt Lake County into four pieces, ensuring every seat would elect a Republican and denying representation to the heavily liberal population center of the state.

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The League of Women Voters and the Mormon Women for Ethical Government responded by suing to strike down S.B. 200, alleging it was an unconstitutional infringement of the right of voters to pass reforms by direct vote. The legislature moved to try to have the suit thrown out, and the state Supreme Court let the suit move forward — but while they hinted S.B. 200 is likely unconstitutional, they kicked the issue down to a lower court to decide the specifics.

The legislature then moved to put Amendment D on the 2024 ballot, which, if passed, would essentially clarify the legislature has a right to overturn citizen ballot initiatives at will, as they sought to do in S.B. 200.

But on Thursday, the Utah Supreme Court rejected Amendment D, ruling that the ballot language was deceptive and did not accurately describe what voters were being asked to approve.

"The ballot title purports to describe Amendment D, yet it omits that the constitution will be changed to allow the Legislature to amend or repeal any government reform enacted by voter initiative," wrote the court. "And the language that is included incorrectly suggests that the changes will strengthen the initiative process, affect the voters’ ability to amend laws, and merely clarify the Legislature’s ability to amend laws." The court also found the legislature didn't properly give voters advance notice to study the amendment.

"Because Amendment D was not submitted to the voters in the way our constitution requires, it is void," the court concluded, adding that while it is too late to remove the language from ballots, any votes for it will not be counted.

Even if the lower court now orders a redraw of Utah's congressional districts, such a map could not take effect until 2026 at the very earliest.