03-03-2025
Senate committee passes bill to alter Utah Supreme Court appointments, but is change necessary?
A judiciary amendments bill sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Chris Wilson, R-Logan, passed the Senate judiciary committee on Monday morning, bringing it one step closer to becoming law.
The bill has passed every committee so far, but the votes have not been unanimous, as it is facing opposition from Democratic lawmakers.
SB296 would change the nomination process for Utah's Supreme Court Justice, mirroring the process used by the United States Supreme Court to appoint its head justice.
'When a vacancy occurs for the U.S. Supreme Court chief justice, the president is responsible for nominating replacement, then it goes to the Senate's confirmation process to be either confirmed or rejected. Involving the executive and legislative branches ensures that the system of checks and balances is utilized as our Founding Fathers intended,' Wilcox said during his bill presentation.
Under Utah law, the five court justices appoint the chief justice. Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant has held the position for the past 13 years.
'By applying the same process to the appointment of the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court. Where the governor appoints (and) the Senate confirms, we establish a deliberate process that enhances transparency with citizen input during our confirmation hearing,' Wilcox added. 'Our state will preserve the system of checks and balances.'
The bill passed 7-2, with Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Grant Amjad Miller and Verona Mauga opposing it.
Though he opposed it, Miller did say it was not outside the confines of the legislative constitutional power. It would just change the function of the judicial branch.
'I think that there is a lot of merit in allowing individuals that are part of an organization to govern and administer their own hierarchy,' he said. 'In the political realm of the legislature, our own caucuses determine our own leadership. And I suppose we could put it up to the governor to determine our leaders of our caucuses. That would shake things up in an interesting way, that would certainly be political.'
'In my philosophy, the less sort of interplay of politics that we have with the judiciary the better.'
An almost entirely unanimous bill throughout its legislative journey, SJR3 aims to dissolve Salt Lake City's county justice court. Its sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Draper, stated that the court has experienced a 'diminishing' number of cases in recent years. Last year, a bill further reduced the court's caseload by transferring cases to other city courts.
Cullimore noted that this bill was made at the county's request.
The bill passed 8-0 during the House Judiciary committee meeting o, Monday morning.
Still Michael Drexel, the assistant state court administrator at the Administrative Office of the Courts, cautioned that, 'If Salt Lake County Justice Court closes, we will have the largest county in the state of Utah in the same situation that we have in Cache County. ... Every time a municipality wants to close their justice court in the absence of an inter-local agreement — which nobody is obligated to enter into — the state district courts become the catch all for all of those traffic cases, small claims cases, things that will further congest the calendars that are already very busy for district court judges dealing with the highest level questions in the trial courts.'
He further warned that if legislators don't find a structural solution to the issue at hand, they will end up overburdening district courts. Estimating that if justice courts were to shut down over time, district courts would have to take on the equivalent workload of 23 additional judges.
