A US federal court in Utah on Monday rejected a Republican challenge to enjoin use of the state’s new congressional map, holding that the challenge was unlikely to succeed and it was too close to the 2026 midterm elections to change the map.

The new map, called Map 1, approved in December 2025, places a majority of Salt Lake City into one district, giving Democrats a better chance of picking up a House of Representatives seat.

Republicans argued the new map violated the Elections Clause of the Constitution and exceeded the bounds of ordinary judicial review, claiming the state district court attempted to seize what is rightfully federal authority to regulate federal congressional elections. They sought a preliminary injunction to stop the map from going into effect.

But the court disagreed, writing that the state was correct in implementing the new map because “having no map was not a viable option [and] courts are empowered or even obligated, perhaps reluctantly so, ‘to ensure a legally compliant map is in place.'”

Prior to Map 1, Utah Republicans attempted to pass a more Republican-leaning map, called the 2021 Map, that was found to be unconstitutional as it did not further a compelling government interest.

The League of Women Voters of Utah in a lawsuit protested Map 1 and subsequent map proposals for the state, arguing they are “an extreme partisan outlier – more Republican than over 99 percent of expected maps drawn without political considerations,” and thus in violation of Utah’s Independent Redistricting Commission and Standards Act, known as Proposition 4, which imposes procedural and redistricting requirements on the Utah Legislature.

The League of Women Voters of Utah celebrated the ruling, writing in a statement:

This is a big victory for the voters of Utah! Utah voters should not have to navigate uncertainty to participate in their elections. We are pleased the court protected this fair map and remain focused on protecting voters’ ability to make their voices heard. We only wish that the futile attempts to undermine this fair map would cease so we could focus on what is important to Utahns.

There has been an effort nationwide to try to redistrict House seats ahead of the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. The Supreme Court recently allowed California’s redistricting effort to proceed temporarily restored a new Texas congressional map in November. Additiinally, a Virginia judge blocked a redistricting plan last month, North Carolina senators approved a new congressional map in October, and Missouri passed a redistricting effort favoring Republicans in September.