Chief Justice Matthew Durrant announced his retirement from the Utah Supreme Court Friday, the latest justice to step aside during unprecedented turnover on the court at a time when the judiciary is under intense pressure from Republican lawmakers.

The 69-year-old Durrant said his retirement would be effective August 31. He recently underwent a kidney transplant, according to an announcement at a recent Judicial Council meeting.

Gov. Spencer Cox is already in the process of interviewing a dozen finalists for two new seats created when the Legislature expanded the Supreme Court from five justices to seven during the past legislative session. A third vacancy was created earlier this month when Justice Diana Hagen stepped down amid an investigation by Republican lawmakers into allegations of an inappropriate relationship that the Judicial Conduct Commission had already dismissed as “misleading.”

In November, Justice John Nielsen was confirmed to the court to take the place of retiring Justice John Pearce, meaning Cox will be appointing five of the seven justices on the court in the span of less than a year.

All 12 of the finalists for the two new vacancies are men, as were the seven finalists for the seat that Nielsen filled.

Durrant’s departure also means that Cox will get to pick the next chief justice, under a law that took effect last year stripping the justices of the power to choose their own chief.

At the time, Durrant said that the change wouldn’t impact him — signaling, perhaps, that he was already planning his departure — but he still saw it as eroding the independence of the court.

Durrant was appointed to the court in January 2000 by Gov. Mike Leavitt. He has been chief justice since April 2012.

“Serving the people of Utah and working alongside dedicated judges and court employees across the state has been the honor of a lifetime,” Durrant said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to help strengthen the administration of justice in Utah.”

Cox said Friday that Durrant is “an incredible human being.”

“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met, one of the best attorneys, one of the best judges I’ve ever met,” Cox said. “He’s led the court with integrity for many years. I know he’s had some health problems over the past few years. I was hoping he wouldn’t be retiring anytime soon. But we love him, we wish him well. We’re grateful for his service to the state.”

Cox called Durrant a “consummate public servant, and genuinely extraordinary person.”

“His integrity, humility, and devotion to public service have left a lasting mark on our state, and Utah is better because he chose to serve,” Cox said.

Durrant’s retirement marks an unprecedented reshaping of a high court that has, in recent years, infuriated Republican leaders via a series of high-profile rulings that frustrated lawmakers’ attempts to repeal a voter-approved ballot initiative, draw congressional boundaries that guaranteed four safe Republican seats, and impose a near-total ban on abortion in the state.

“Matt Durrant is everything you could want a Supreme Court justice to be: Intelligent, empathetic, humble, tireless, and just a fantastic person,” Pearce said of his former colleague. “Utah has been fortunate to have had a person of his caliber on its high court for more than 25 years. The state and judiciary will miss Matt and his leadership.”

Retired Justice Deno Himonas said Durrant is a “Utah treasure.”

“Others will note he is a nationally recognized jurist of rare intellect and a gifted writer. All true,” Himonas said. “But what no honorifics can fully capture is the man himself — his inner strength, his moral clarity, his genuine decency, not to mention his incredible dry wit. His retirement is a profound loss to the state, and his legacy is permanent."

In a statement, the Utah State Bar said that “few judges leave a mark on the state’s legal system” the way Durrant had.

“Over the course of his tenure on the Utah Supreme Court, and particularly in his years as chief justice, he brought to the bench something that cannot be taught in law school: genuine wisdom, paired with the kind of quiet integrity that earns lasting respect,” the bar said.

Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Durrant served as a trial judge beginning in 1997. He earned his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1984.

— Reporter Emily Anderson Stern contributed to this story.