Under Protest

Utah Republicans' First Move on Fair Maps Is to Rewrite the Rules (Again)

Senator Brady Brammer Photo Credit (The Moab-Times)

When Utah's Supreme Court told lawmakers to follow Proposition 4, it wasn't a suggestion. The court said: no more games, no more excuses, no more gerrymandered maps. Just do your jobs and draw fair districts.

So Monday's meeting, the first of the Legislative Redistricting Committee, should have been about beginning that process, discussing the 5 proposed maps to be considered.

Instead, Republican lawmakers walked in like teenagers being forced to clean their rooms, literally announcing they were there "under protest." Yes, creating fair maps for the people of Utah is apparently such a crushing burden that it requires a formal declaration of suffering. Imagine your dentist sighing dramatically before filling your cavity, muttering about doing dental work "under protest." Or your mechanic rolling their eyes while replacing your car brakes. That's where we are: elected officials treating basic accountability and having to do their jobs like cruel and unusual punishment.

But wait, it gets better. Less than 24 hours before this first meeting, Sen. Brady Brammer pulled his latest stunt: a brand-new bill to change the rules of the game. Not to comply with Prop 4. Not to define fairness as the court ordered. But to rewrite the definition of “fair” so Republicans can keep control.

It’s like getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar, and instead of stopping, you grab a Sharpie and rewrite the family rules to say “cookies are vegetables.”

That's exactly what happened here. The court said follow Prop 4. Utah Republicans didn’t want to follow the rules that make things actually fair so instead of simply following the court-ordered process of actually complying with voter-approved standards, they started by trying to gut those standards entirely. Again.

You really have to admire the audacity. They literally just got in trouble for rigging the system, and their first move in the penalty phase is to try to rig it again.

What Was Supposed to Happen

Let's back up for a second. Prop 4, which Utah voters approved, sets clear standards for drawing fair maps. One key requirement: lawmakers can't use partisan data when creating districts. And once maps are drawn, they must be tested with multiple fairness measures to check for partisan gerrymandering.

The Third District judge's ruling was crystal clear: define these fairness measures (plural) clearly, so there’s no confusion when evaluating maps. That’s it. A straightforward homework assignment: write down the rules so everyone knows the game is being played fairly.

Instead, Brammer decided to throw out most of the rulebook and substitute his own.

The rest of this Substack is for our paid subscribers. We are going to breakdown the partisan bias test that Brady Brammer wants in detail and you’ll meet the Republicans “expert” witness and what you can do about it.