Utah judge’s congressional map ruling is not judicial review, it is judicial overreach

The Utah Constitution could not be clearer: “The Legislature shall divide the state into congressional, legislative and other districts as provided by law.”

That is not ambiguous. It identifies who has the authority: the Legislature.

And it instructs what must be done: divide the state into districts.

In a court ruling issued Monday, 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson said the Utah Legislature’s 2021 congressional maps violate the state constitution and ordered Utah lawmakers to draw a new one.

In the ruling, however, Gibson stripped the clause instructing the legislature to divide the state into districts of its plain meaning, elevated an ordinary statute above the Constitution, and reinstalled Proposition 4 — a citizen initiative designed to reform the redistricting process in Ut