Utah governor signs bill adding justices to state Supreme Court as redistricting appeal looms
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill Saturday that would expand the state Supreme Court from five justices to seven justices as frustration grows among Republican lawmakers over a series of defeats before the court.
Proponents of the change argued it would help improve the court’s efficiency, but legal experts said it could have the opposite effect. setting a dangerous precedent At a time of tension between branches of government. The state’s judiciary did not want more judges on the court.
Democrats united against the bill said the timing was questionable. Parliament is preparing to object to this decision It gave Democrats a strong chance while taking one of Utah’s four Republican-held congressional seats in the fall.
New justices could take office once the court decides the fate of the congressional map.
Because the bill received approval from more than two-thirds of legislators, it went into effect immediately after the governor signed it, allowing him to bypass a several-month waiting period to begin adding judges.
In Utah, judges are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Judges in most other states are elected.
Most states have five or seven Supreme Court justices, but a few states have nine. Cox, a Republican, said the additions would put Utah on par with other states its size. He has denied that the policy is politically motivated, noting that Republican governors and senators have made all recent appointments.
By the time the new seats are filled, Cox will have appointed five of the seven sitting justices.
Last month, Republican lawmakers took away the power from state Supreme Court justices to choose their chief justice and gave that authority to the governor.
“Seven eyes examining the most complex and difficult problems facing our state are better than having just five eyes,” said House Majority Leader Casey Snider, one of the bill’s Republican sponsors.
John Pearce, who recently retired as deputy chief justice, said this month that he doubted the change would make the court more efficient.
“The more comments you have to consider, the longer the process takes,” Pearce said. “If what the Legislature hopes to do is expedite the work of the court, that would be counterproductive.”
Two states (Arizona and Georgia) added justices in the last decade after making similar arguments about efficiency.
In the first few years after Arizona Expanded its field in 2016Many judges past and present have said that it does something less efficient because more people had to review the views before it was published.
Arizona’s court now issues slightly more decisions per year, while Georgia’s has slightly fewer than before.
Utah Chief Justice Matthew Durrant told lawmakers on the opening day of the 2026 session that the court had “a significant backlog” and urged them to add judges to lower courts where the need is greater. The bill’s sponsors responded by adding some lower court judges and clerks.
The Utah State Bar Association has expressed concerns about the expansion and other proposals that it says would undermine the independence of the judiciary. These include the draft law establishing a new court with exclusive jurisdiction to hear constitutional objections. The governor will appoint three judges who will be confirmed by the Senate.
___
Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
