An open letter to the nominating commission and Gov. Cox:
As you consider what two new people to appoint to the Utah Supreme Court, please select attorneys who are as highly qualified as our current justices.
Two went to top-10 law schools (Harvard and Yale), the two University of Utah graduates were in the top 10% of their class, and the BYU graduate was magna cum laude. Four justices clerked for prestigious federal circuit or district courts. Four worked for major law firms, one in New York City. Two served in U.S. attorneys offices, one prosecuted war crimes in the Hague, and one served in the Utah attorney general’s office and a district attorney’s office. Four served either as Utah court of appeals or district court judges before being appointed to the Utah Supreme Court.
If you make the mistake of nominating individuals who are less stellar than the current bench, you will confirm the worst suspicions of the critics — that the expansion of the court was court packing, an attempt to manipulate the outcome of pending cases for political purposes.
Linda F. Smith, Salt Lake City
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