Was it a surprise when Utah judges ruled that the Legislature violated the state constitution, which provides for citizen initiatives to establish law and reform government, and selected a new map for Utah’s congressional districts ?

Yes and no.

Like most citizens, I paid little attention to the meaning of “redistricting” in my history classes or when I went to the polls as a young voter. I recalled gerrymandering as something early in our U.S. history to create maps that benefited one party. But when I later served as a Utah state representative, I found myself in the middle of a redistricting exercise.

In 2000, I was the Democratic/minority leader in the Utah House, the same year a U.S. census took place. The Constitution mandates an official, complete count of every person living i

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