The chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court addressed the tension between the state’s judiciary and legislature during his remarks on the first day of Utah’s general legislative session on Tuesday.
“There can and should be substantive disagreements” between the branches of government, Chief Justice Matthew Durrant said during his State of the Judiciary remarks at the Capitol. But, he said, issues arise when “substantive disagreement” turns into attacks on “motive, integrity and good faith.”
“I believe in our institutions,” Durrant said. “No, our institutions are not perfect, and so, yes, they can be improved, but they are not the cesspools of corruption and self-interest that some would have you believe. They are largely composed of good and decent people who are genuine in their desire to serve well. That is true of Utah’s legislature. It is true of Utah’s judiciary.”
“On those rare occasions when we strike down one of your statutes as unconstitutional, we carefully and dispassionately explain why. You will never read an opinion where we challenge your integrity or good faith,” he told his audience of predominantly lawmakers.
Tensions between the legislative and judicial branches have grown in recent years in Utah, with contentious issues such as abortion and the state’s most recent redistricting dispute sharpening the divide.
He continued, “I ask that you pay us the same courtesy in challenging our decisions. Do it on the merits, not through impugning our integrity. Disagreement is inherent in our system of government. Public disparagement of another branch is not. While polarized ‘us versus them’ rhetoric has become common in national circles, it is not and should not be the norm here.”
Durrant was responding directly, it seems, to the approach taken by state lawmakers over the past few weeks, as they’ve criticized the courts for legislating from the bench.
Ahead of the 2026 session, Republican legislative leaders sat down with the Deseret News and expressed their concerns with the state’s judicial branch, including calling it “the least transparent branch of government” in Utah.
He also responded directly to a suggestion made by Speaker Mike Schultz to the Deseret News about potentially electing Supreme Court justices in the future. Durrant disputed that idea, arguing that Utah’s judiciary is respected across the nation largely because judges are not elected but rather appointed.
He noted some projects the judicial council is working on to further “increase public confidence in the way judges are made responsible for deciding cases.”
Regarding case load concerns, Durrant said that in 2025 the state’s Supreme Court finally caught up on the backlog from the COVID-19 pandemic, and its caseload is now considered normal.
Utah Republicans, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, said they want to add two more judges each to the state Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. This session, Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan, is advancing a bill intended to increase the number of judges in both bodies.
Durrant said that if the Legislature pushes forward with the change, he hopes they will not “do so at the expense of the judiciary’s requests,” which are:
- $6 million from the state to fulfill financial needs to train and retain staff.
- Eight district court judges.
- One juvenile court judge.
- Four commissioners.
- One to two Court of Appeals judges.
Durrant said the judges’ requests were made last year and not fulfilled, thus creating a “greater urgency.”
Legislators respond
Following Durrant’s remarks, Sen. Todd D. Weiler, R-Woods Cross, told the Deseret News he agreed “with his sentiments that disagreements between the branches, which are expected and inevitable, should be centered on the merits of the issues.”
While Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, did find it positive that Durrant aligned with the Legislature, in part, on court expansion, and said he felt Durrant’s comments were sincere, “There’s been a pattern of poor decisions and poor behavior that have surpassed and gone past the benefit of the doubt that’s being requested,” he told the Deseret News.
Democratic Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe, Cottonwood Heights, said she trusts the judiciary.
“We support expanding, but this is not really the way that it should be done, and supporting the lower courts to have more options for us to move through these systems faster is important, but adding two Supreme Court justices is not the right time,” she told the Deseret News.
Riebe said the judiciary must play a difficult role in society. “It’s hard for them to have to push back on the legislative and the executive branch, but that’s their job, and I’m glad they take it seriously, because that’s what our whole country is founded on.”
Contributing: Caitlin Keith