• Redistricting

Powers Gardner v. Henderson

02.12.2026
  • Utah
  • Ongoing

The National Redistricting Foundation filed a motion to intervene in the case Powers Gardner v. Henderson, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, where Utah elected officials are challenging the authority of its own state courts to adjudicate state constitutional voting protections through the radical and discredited “independent state legislature theory,” or ISL. ISL asserts that because of the Elections Clause and Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution, a state’s power to regulate federal elections belongs exclusively to state legislatures. Taken to its logical conclusion, it would necessarily strip away the existing power of state courts, governors, and redistricting commissions to invalidate, veto, or draw congressional maps. The NRF was the supporting organization for the North Carolina voters in Moore v. Harper, a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court considered and rejected ISL. As a non-profit advocacy organization active in educating the public about gerrymandering, working toward redistricting reforms, and litigating in state and federal courts to fight for voting rights, the NRF sought intervention as defendants in this case to once again battle back against ISL, protect Utah’s new, fair congressional map, and defend our system of checks and balances. While the court denied NRF’s motion to intervene, it accepted the Foundation as an amici; following the NRF’s advocacy to dismiss the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction, the court did just that: on February 23, 2026, the panel denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, refusing to block the state trial court’s order to adopt a fair congressional map.