Litigation
LWV Utah v. Utah State Legislature Amicus Brief
On May 19th, 2023, Common Cause submitted an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government in LWV Utah v. Utah State Legislature who assert that the alteration of Proposition 4 violated the Utah Constitution’s right to direct lawmaking through ballot initiative and that the Congressional districts enacted by the Legislature after the 2020 Census were a partisan gerrymander.
In 2018, Utah voters passed Prop 4, a ballot initiative creating an advisory citizens redistricting commission to conduct a nonpartisan and transparent process to draw the state’s voting districts. The initiative required the legislature to take an up or down vote on maps the commission provides, prohibited partisan gerrymandering, and included nonpartisan criteria focused on the needs of communities over partisan politics. Almost immediately, the Utah legislature gutted these reforms by eliminating the requirement that the legislature vote on maps the commission produces and the initiative’s nonpartisan criteria. In addition, the legislature eliminated the power the initiative gave to private citizens to sue if the legislature did not vote on a commission-drawn map.
After going across the state, conducting open hearings, and receiving detailed input from Utahns about their communities, the commission submitted maps to the legislature for approval. The legislature then drew new districts before the commission’s work was even completed, ignored the commission’s drafts, and approved maps that completely disregarded the extensive public outreach the commission conducted.
This brief highlights the important work conducted by the commission and how the Utah legislature subsequently disregarded the will of Utahan voters by ignoring the commission’s work and passing voting maps that are the product of partisan gerrymandering. In LWV Utah, the Utah Supreme Court ultimately ruled in July 2024 that plaintiffs in the case should be able to proceed with their claim that the legislature’s actions violated Utahns’ state constitutional right to alter or reform their government, remanding the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
