State Courts and Judicial Independence

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Saturday signed a law expanding the state Supreme Court from five to seven justices, a change that took effect immediately and comes days after GOP lawmakers asked the court to overturn a redistricting ruling that gave Democrats a strong shot at one of Utah’s four U.S. House seats. Because justices are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Republican‑controlled Senate, Cox will now be able to name five of the seven members, deepening conservative control of a court that has recently handed the Legislature a string of defeats. Republican sponsors say the expansion will improve efficiency and bring Utah in line with other states, but former Associate Chief Justice John Pearce and current Chief Justice Matthew Durrant have warned the court has "essentially no backlog" and that adding more justices could slow decisions while undermining judicial independence. The legislature recently also stripped the court of authority to choose its own chief justice and is weighing a separate bill to funnel constitutional challenges into a new, legislature‑created trial court, moves the Utah State Bar says collectively threaten checks and balances. The episode feeds into a broader national trend in which Republican‑dominated legislatures in states like Arizona and Georgia have expanded high courts after adverse rulings, a tactic critics liken to partisan court‑packing.