NRF Calls on Court to Dismiss Utah Legal Effort to Undermine System of Checks and Balances

Washington, D.C. – Last night, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) asked a federal court to join a newly-filed lawsuit in order to protect Utah’s new, fair congressional map and defend our system of checks and balances. 

The NRF filed a motion to intervene in Powers Gardner v. Henderson, a federal lawsuit brought by a group of Utah elected officials seeking not only to overturn Utah’s fair, court-adopted congressional map, but also to give state legislatures near-total control over federal election laws. More specifically, the plaintiffs invoke the fringe “independent state legislature theory,” arguing that only the state legislature—not citizen-led ballot measures, not laws enshrined in the state constitution, and not state courts—can create congressional maps. In its filing, the NRF notes that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “independent state legislature theory” in a landmark decision in Moore v. Harper nearly three years ago, and the case should be dismissed.

“After being held to account in state court for drawing an illegal gerrymander, the power-hungry Utah politicians behind this effort are resorting to a dangerous legal claim that would undermine our system of checks and balances—all in order to cheat the voters,” said Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the NRF. “Almost three years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the same fringe legal theory presented by the plaintiffs in this case. To do anything other than dismiss this case outright would serve only to undermine state constitutional protections of voting rights.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

In 2023, the NRF played a central role in defeating another effort to push the fringe independent state legislature theory before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a landmark decision in Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt in North Carolina to use the theory to overturn a fair, court-adopted congressional map. In that case, the NRF financially supported and directed the legal strategy on behalf of the Harper respondents. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here. 

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