They will submit them on day 29.75, then when they get rejected they will complain and say they complied with the court order and the judge is being unfair, and they should get a stay on appeal because this "activist judge" (appointed and unanimously confirmed by a GOP majority) is picking on them.
I'm really hoping they miss the deadline because if I understand correctly that would mean the judge chooses the map. There are already maps available to use.
Presumably, if their map is rejected by the judge and they don't have a replacement in time, that would be the result as well. But they'll absolutely sue and try to get a stay during their appeal.
Knowing how angry and petty they are, they’ll probably tweak the existing map by one small line adjustment in Millcreek and submit that.
Maybe we'll get a true 4-corners intersection for the districts
We can build another whale there.
I thought the judge said that if they didn’t give her a map that is in accord with the law passed by voters, she would impose a map herself? I thought I read that.
That's correct, and then the legislature will appeal saying they had done their best to comply, and they weren't given enough time to respond, and it's all unfair, etc. They'll try to get an immediate stay to block the court imposed map until the appeal goes through. The big game is delay tactics.
I’m not sure that will fly with the Utah Supreme Court.
They usually land on good, well-reasoned decisions, but they're also often slow to reach those decisions. They might allow a stay so that they have time to deliberate. And then the GOP is sure to introduce more bills targeting the Supreme Court in the next session—maybe even in the special session.
I hope that's not the case, and that it just gets shut down. But I'm nervous that it could just as easily go that way.