Gov. Spencer Cox has appointed two men to the Utah Supreme Court. Neither attorney has been a judge before, unlike the state’s current justices who had that prior experience. Stephen Dent is a prosecutor and Jay Jorgensen currently works for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It’s a time of significant change for the state’s highest court and tension between the legislative and judicial branches of government. Cox is filling two vacancies created by the Legislature's expansion of the court from five to seven seats. The governor also needs to appoint two more justices after Justice Diana Hagen resigned under pressure from Republican lawmakers, and Chief Justice Matthew Durrant announced his retirement.
In all, Cox is expected to make four supreme court appointments this year — a majority of the positions. All of his picks will have to be confirmed by the Utah Senate.
After Cox’s announcement in the Gold Room at the Utah State Capitol, reporters asked Dent and Jorgensen about their judicial philosophy. They had the same answer: they believe in textualism and originalism.
That echoes Cox’s own stated philosophy. It’s also the answer that the court’s most recent addition Justice John Nielsen gave when the governor appointed him in 2025.
Originalism is a view that legal documents, especially the U.S. Constitution, should be interpreted as they were understood at the time of their adoption. It’s a popular view in the conservative legal movement.
Textualism is the view that laws should be interpreted only on their plain meaning, not intent. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was a proponent of both philosophies.
Jorgensen, who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito when Alito was on the U.S. Court of Appeals, quoted Alexander Hamilton in saying the Judiciary is the “least dangerous” branch of government. If confirmed, Jorgensen vowed to apply the law, but never create the law.
Jorgensen received his law and undergraduate degrees from Brigham Young University. In addition to Alito, he also clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He then worked for large law firms before becoming Executive Vice President of Walmart and subsequently Chief Compliance Officer of the e-commerce company Coupang.
Stepping away from the law for a few years, Jorgensen served as an LDS mission president in Chile. Since August 2025, Jorgensen has worked as senior counsel for the Church.
“Jay is truly one of Utah's brightest legal minds,” Cox said. “Just as importantly, he understands Utah and its people.”
When a reporter asked about Jorgensen’s background working for the state’s dominant religion, Cox said, “I don't care who they worked for. I care about their legal mind and their legal scholarship.”
Dent graduated from the University of Utah law school in 2014 after receiving his undergraduate degree from BYU. Dent also clerked for two judges, Judge Robert Shelby in Utah's federal district court and Judge Scott M. Matheson Jr. in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. He worked for a large law firm and since 2019 has been a prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah's Southern District, based in St. George.
“Stephen's path has already shown the kind of discipline, legal ability and character we need on the bench,” Cox said.
The governor said his office rigorously vetted the candidates, and he is confident in their abilities.
Cox picked Jorgensen and Dent from a pool of a dozen nominees selected by the Appellate Court Nominating Commission. All of the nominees were men.
Cox said of the 25 applicants, only four were women and only two of them were qualified. He said his task is to pick the best legal minds.
“I don't care if you're a male or female when you apply. I don't go into this looking at your chromosomes when I'm making an appointment,” Cox said.
He highlighted the two women that he has appointed to the state’s highest court — current Justice Jill Pohlman and former Justice Hagen.
“I don't know if that makes me a misogynist. I guess I'll own it, but I think that's an insane narrative,” Cox said. “It doesn't fit.”
Next, the Utah Senate will vote on confirming Jorgensen and Dent. Cox said he hopes to make appointments to the other two open seats in the fall.
During the announcement, Cox also addressed what he called the “well-publicized rift” between the Legislative and Judicial branches.
The state’s GOP supermajority has been on the losing side of several high-profile rulings in recent years — including the state’s lengthy redistricting saga and its near-total abortion ban. Lawmakers have expressed their displeasure and proposed dozens of bills to change the way courts function. Attorneys have raised serious concerns about lawmakers weakening the judiciary’s independence and damaging the courts.
Former Justice Hagen left after Republican lawmakers publicly said they would investigate allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an attorney — allegations the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission had already investigated and dismissed as “misleading,” according to reporting by the Salt Lake Tribune.
Cox said smart people can disagree. “I think it's very important that we understand that we can have disagreements about court cases, about individual decisions, without impugning the integrity of the people who have taken the same oath that we have as elected officials to serve our great state.”
Cox said he hopes that there will continue to be differences of opinion between the branches of government In his review of the applicants, he said he questioned them to make sure they’d be willing to rule against the Executive and Legislative branches.
”I push really hard on them to make sure that they aren't partisan hacks,” Cox said.
