The Daily Populous Saturday February 21st, 2026 day edition
Authored by democracydocket.com and submitted by MarcEElias

In a decisive win for voters, the Utah Supreme Court dismissed the GOP legislature’s appeal in the state’s landmark redistricting case — clearing the way for a fairer congressional map to be used in the 2026 elections.

The ruling delivered Friday ensures that the remedial map adopted last November — one that ends the deliberate splitting of Salt Lake County across four districts — remains in place.

That fairer map creates a district where Democratic voters can meaningfully compete, restoring a measure of balance in a state where they have long been shut out of congressional representation due to partisan gerrymandering.

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At its core, the court’s decision was about enforcing the rules and protecting voters’ constitutional rights.

The justices made clear that legislative leaders had a chance to appeal earlier orders but did not act in time.

“Even though the August 25 Order did not end the case, Legislative Defendants could have immediately appealed it,” the court wrote. “But the 30 days to appeal the August 25 Order passed, and no appeal was filed.”

After missing that deadline, lawmakers attempted to use a procedural mechanism — known as Rule 54(b) certification — to revive their appeal. In plain terms, Rule 54(b) allows an appeal before a case is fully finished only if an entire claim has been finally resolved.

The court concluded that requirement had not been met.

Because the appeal was dismissed, the Legislature’s request to reinstate the 2021 congressional map was also dismissed.

The result: The court-ordered map from last November stands.

This decision builds on a broader victory for Utahns who approved Proposition 4 in 2018 — a ballot initiative designed to curb partisan gerrymandering and require neutral redistricting standards.

After voters passed the reform, the Legislature repealed key provisions and enacted a congressional map that divided Salt Lake County into four separate districts — effectively diluting Democratic voting power statewide.

A trial court later ruled that repeal violated Utahns’ constitutional right to alter or reform their government and permanently blocked use of the 2021 map. When lawmakers failed to produce a compliant replacement, the court adopted a map that follows the standards voters originally demanded.

With Friday’s ruling, that voter-backed framework remains protected.

Meanwhile, the Utah Republican Party and allied activists are pushing a ballot initiative to repeal Proposition 4 by gathering signatures to put the question before voters in November.

Organizers say they have submitted well over the signatures needed to qualify the measure, which would eliminate the independent redistricting commission and restore sole map-drawing authority to the Legislature if approved. County clerks are currently verifying the petitions, and the lieutenant governor will decide by late April whether the repeal will appear on the ballot.

In the meantime, Democratic voters in Utah will head into a congressional election with a district designed around communities — not partisan entrenchment.

In a closely divided U.S. House, even a single seat can matter.

The decision lands at a moment when Republican officials in several states are exploring new redistricting maneuvers aimed at maintaining their narrow congressional majority — part of a broader national push ordered by President Donald Trump.

Utah’s case sends a powerful counter-message that voters can still enact anti-gerrymandering reforms and courts can still enforce them.

Choice-of-SteinsGate on February 21st, 2026 at 01:06 UTC »

Republicans have the gall to say they're "protecting the integrity of elections," while making every effort to subvert the vote, deny elections, make voting more challenging, purge Democrats from voter rolls, crudely redraw maps, limit voter participation, alter the census in their favor, reshape districts along racial lines, and influence election outcomes.

That said, if MAGA is genuinely intent on "protecting election integrity" and the democratic process, they should turn their attention to the myriad systemic issues that Donald Trump and the Republican party are exploiting in order to stay in power instead of obsessing over unsubstantiated conspiracy theories from five years ago.

In Republican states, you have lawmakers deciding who their voters are without any checks against their authority, and in states like CA, the decision is ultimately left up to multiple votes while the newly drawn maps are temporary—this juxtaposition helps illustrate the difference between authoritarianism and democracy.

If gerrymandering were eliminated and all maps were drawn equitably and fairly by independent commissions, Democrats would most likely benefit, but if the US were gerrymandered to the maximum extent possible, Republicans would gain the advantage.

This speaks to how Republicans have taken advantage of voter geography over the years. It's also about Republicans having disproportionate control over state legislatures, and thus control over redistricting. Like in Texas where they've granted themselves the unanswerable authority to decide who their voters are and not the other way around.

The GOP is consolidating power at an alarming rate. Which means that their redistricting wars and voter suppression efforts will be ongoing, and the more this continues, the more it will chip away at the democratic process.

As far as tit for tat redistricting goes, do all of you pearl clutching hypocrites expect Democrats to stand by and let it happen? Do you expect Democrats to fear the same double standard that Republicans live by and NOT respond to these efforts in kind?

Republicans have benefitted from a skewed voter landscape for decades. We need a complete overhaul of our electoral and campaign finance systems, and it's not going to happen while Republicans cling to power. For that matter, it's not going to happen unless we elect more progressive and reformist candidates.

The larger issue however, is that Republicans have been steadily suppressing the vote for years; an effort accelerated in the aftermath of January 6th and by Trump's 'big lie" of a stolen election.

The GOP has become more emboldened in this post Jan 6 environment; sowing distrust in our elections; piggybacking off Trump's lies of election fraud; tapping into a stockpile of conspiracy theories, lies, and misinformation to dissuade and deceive the public and to carry out a nationwide campaign of voter suppression.

Republicans exploit the misinformed. They capitalize off of the ignorance, the partisanship and the mindless distrust of their voters to give themselves the legal authority to challenge election results while granting their party more power, control and supervision over our election system.

They have the capability now to deny, subvert, legally contest and overturn future elections with near impunity.

Worse yet, Trump has been federalizing the military in order to centralize authoritarian control over US cities; a paramilitary presence he will utilize to suppress the vote in upcoming elections.

Republicans are also using the courts to dilute the minority vote by challenging section 2 of the voting Rights Act; targeting marginalized voters who are vulnerable to being sequestered.

Then there's Trump's recent remarks about "nationalizing" US elections

So much for states rights... A bad faith argument by conservatives that almost always tries to rationalize why federal government intervention is only acceptable when it aligns with THEIR goals.

Quick_Persimmon_4436 on February 21st, 2026 at 00:53 UTC »

As a Utahn I am very very cautiously happy.

Ande64 on February 21st, 2026 at 00:41 UTC »

Been a nice day today. Great to know that Orange Covfefe will be up all night rage tweeting!!