Cases & Actions

League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature

The Election Law Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of Professor Charles Fried to the Supreme Court of Utah in support of Plaintiffs. The brief explains that Utah’s Constitution contains provisions distinct from the federal Constitution, in particular, it includes the Free Elections and Uniform Operation of Laws Clauses.  The original meaning of these constitutional protections and this Court’s own precedent compels the conclusion that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable under Utah’s Constitution.

STATUS: ACTIVE
UPDATED: May 19, 2023
ISSUES: Vote Dilution

The Supreme Court of Utah will hear oral arguments in League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature. The case seeks review of three questions: Are partisan gerrymandering claims justiciable under the Utah Constitution; Is legislative redistricting shielded from judicial review, and; Does extreme partisan gerrymandering violate fundamental individual rights protected in the Utah Constitution?

ELC is representing Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Charles Fried. Professor Fried’s extensive legal experience bears directly on the question of, whether, relying on particular state constitutional provisions, state courts may go beyond the federal limits on the justiciability of partisan gerrymandering. In the brief, submitted to the Supreme Court of Utah on May 19, 2023, amicus explain Utah’s constitution contains more extensive protections of individual rights than the federal constitution. Time and time again, the Utah Supreme Court has recognized its distinct responsibility to effectuate the separate protections that its constitution provides. The Utah Constitution provides such protections against an anti-democratic gerrymander.

BACKGROUND

In 2018, the citizens of Utah voted to pass Proposition 4, a bipartisan initiative that established anti-gerrymandering redistricting standards and created an independent redistricting commission. However, the Legislature repealed Proposition 4, and, in 2021 enacted the Congressional Plan to crack the compact population of Democratic-supporting voters in Salt Lake County. The Plan divided them across all four districts, fragmenting residential areas and effectively halved the city across its Main Street.

Plaintiffs sued to invalidate the Legislature’s extreme partisan gerrymander and assert Uthans constitutional rights. The district court denied the Legislature’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims. The court concluded that Utah courts ought to uphold individual rights and ensure the functioning of the democratic process, thus asserting Utahs court has broad judicial review authority. Defendants appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Utah. ELC, representing Professor Charles Fried, filed an amicus brief in support of Plaintiffs.