It took just nine working days for Republican lawmakers to follow through on a promise to expand the Utah Supreme Court. Soon, the bench will have seven justices instead of five.
Passed by both chambers last week and signed by Gov. Spencer Cox on Saturday, SB134 went into effect immediately. That’s because the bill had more than two-thirds approval in each chamber.
Judges in Utah are first nominated by the governor before they must be confirmed by the state Senate.
In addition to adding two more high court justices, the Court of Appeals will expand by two judges to nine, and the third, fourth and fifth district courts will each get an additional judge. The total price tag is just under $6.5 million.
For sponsor Senate Majority Whip Chris Wilson, it was a simple matter of catching up with states of similar size. Currently, 16 states, including Utah, have five justices on their supreme courts. Thirty-four states have courts of seven or more justices.
“When you compare our state population to the 10 closest states around us, they all have either seven or nine justices on their supreme courts,” he said. “And you look at the numbers, we've had five supreme court justices in 1917. Our population has gone from 500,000 in 1917 to 3.5 million today.”
The supermajority also argues that the wheels of justice have slowed in recent years.
Two states — Arizona and Georgia — have added justices in the past decade after making similar arguments about efficiency.
In the first few years after Arizona grew its court in 2016, several past and present justices said it made things less efficient because more people had to review opinions before they could be published.
Arizona's court now issues slightly more rulings per year, while Georgia's issues slightly fewer than before.
Utah Chief Justice Matthew Durrant told legislators on the opening day of the session that the court had “essentially no backlog” and urged them to add judges to lower courts, where the need is greater.
Critics have questioned the timing of the push to expand. The Legislature has been on the losing side of several high-profile cases in the last couple of years, including abortion, redistricting and a school voucher program. Democrats and other opponents have called the move an attempt to influence future rulings.
In a statement after the governor’s signing, the House Democratic Caucus disputed that there was a case backlog that justified the expansion.
“We are left to interpret these changes as an attempt to undermine the independence of the judicial branch of government,” their statement continued. “The timing and speed with which this bill moved through the legislative process further limited the opportunity for thoughtful consideration.”
Senate President Stuart Adams rebuffed claims that Republicans were attempting to sway the courts one way or another.
“Chief Justice Durant was very clear when he spoke to us during his talk here,” he said. “He said that the judges don't do political decisions, and if they don't do political decisions, it shouldn't matter what judge you have.”
The Utah State Bar took a mixed stance on the bill. While they opposed adding more state supreme court justices, they commended lawmakers for their “recognition of growing judicial caseloads and its investment in expanding the courts, particularly at the trial and appellate levels, where most Utahns interact with the justice system.”
The bar also noted that the bill only added some lower court judges and did not “adequately address the need for corresponding support staff, such as judicial assistants and law clerks, necessary to ensure that new judges can operate effectively and efficiently.”
There could be more changes on the horizon with several other bills aimed at the judiciary. The Bar is also carefully watching those bills as the session progresses.
“The proposals are moving through the legislative process at an accelerated pace, limiting meaningful public review and discussion of sweeping changes that affect every Utahn who will have to pay for the judicial restructuring and who may one day rely on the courts for protection of their rights,” they said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
