After Utah courts dealt a series of defeats to Republican legislators on abortion, transgender athletes and lawmakers’ ability to repeal ballot initiatives and gerrymander political boundaries, tensions between the two branches of government are at a breaking point.
For the 2026 legislative session, GOP leaders and Gov. Spencer Cox appear intent on adding two justices to the Utah Supreme Court, insisting it is not an intent to move the court in a more compliant, conservative direction, but rather to make the high court more efficient.
John Pearce, who recently retired as an associate chief justice, said adding justices would make the court less efficient and is “the completely wrong answer.” The bottleneck, Pearce said, is due to a lack of resources at the lower court level and how long it takes to get cases briefed and presented to the high court.
To address the lower court backlog, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, is proposing adding nine new judges to the lower courts — seven at various district courts, one juvenile court judge and one judge on the Court of Appeals.
Additionally, Rep. Jason Kyle, R-Huntsville, is proposing a constitutional amendment that would make the Judicial Nominating Commission, which currently screens applicants for vacancies on the bench, optional. The governor could ask for commission recommendations, or pick whoever they want.
Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, has also floated the idea of consolidating judicial districts from the current eight down to as few as three. That would bolster, he has said, the applicant pool in rural areas, while others contend it is an attempt to put more conservative judges on the bench in Salt Lake County.
Beyond those changes, House Republicans have accused the judiciary of being “the least transparent branch of government,” and have vowed to increase public access to court records, although legislation to accomplish that goal has not been made public.
During a special legislative session last year, Republicans voted to strip the Supreme Court justices of their ability to choose their own chief justice, designating that authority to the governor. They also adopted a resolution condemning the courts for judicial activism.