Utah’s Supreme Court just got a bit more crowded, and the timing is anything but accidental. On Saturday, Governor Spencer Cox signed S.B. 134 into law, officially expanding the state’s highest judicial body from five seats to seven.
While the move is being framed by supporters as a way to handle a growing and complex caseload, it lands right in the middle of a fierce legal battle over the state’s political future.
The expansion comes at a critical moment for Utah’s congressional lines. Last August, a lower court judge threw a wrench into the status quo by ruling that the current House map was the result of “partisan gerrymandering.”
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That decision, which forced a redrawing of districts, could essentially hand Democrats a seat in a state where Republicans currently hold all four. With the GOP appealing that ruling, these two new seats on the bench could play a massive role in deciding which map voters see during the upcoming November midterms.
The political divide over the bill was stark. Not a single Democrat in the Utah State Legislature voted in favor of the expansion, while more than 70% of Republicans supported it.
Critics argue the move is a strategic play to ensure the court remains friendly to GOP interests, especially since Governor Cox now gets to hand-pick the two new justices. If his nominees are confirmed by the Republican-controlled State Senate, five of the seven justices on the bench will be Cox appointees.
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Utah House Majority Leader Casey Snider, the Republican who sponsored the bill, defended the expansion by saying that more perspectives are needed for the state’s most “complex and difficult issues.”
Whether you see it as a necessary upgrade to the judiciary or a tactical maneuver in a redistricting war, the eyes of the state are now on the Governor’s office to see who fills those empty robes.
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