In a Win for Voters, Utah Supreme Court Voids Anti-Democratic Constitutional Amendment
The Utah Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that a proposed anti-democratic constitutional amendment set to appear on the November ballot shall remain void, rejecting Republican legislators’ request to reinstate the proposal.
The proposed amendment at issue — Amendment D — would’ve allowed Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature to repeal or alter voter-approved ballot initiatives, effectively thwarting the ability of Utahns to engage in direct democracy.
Amid three lawsuits filed in the state this cycle, the Utah Supreme Court ruled against a proposed amendment allowing lawmakers to change voter-approved initiatives.
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Although the amendment will still appear on the ballot in the upcoming election, the court’s order ensures that it will be given no effect.
The state Supreme Court’s ruling affirms a Sept. 12 decision holding that the measure’s ballot language was unconstitutionally misleading and that the Legislature failed to properly promulgate notice of the amendment’s publication in newspapers for a period of two months.
According to yesterday’s order, “the district court correctly ruled” that the Legislature failed to meet the constitutional requirements for putting a proposed amendment to the voters. Additionally, the justices noted that the lower court “acted within its discretion in…declaring Amendment D void and ordering that any votes cast will not be counted.”
“The public interest requires that constitutional amendments be submitted to voters in the way mandated by the supreme law of the state embodied in the Utah Constitution,” the order concluded.
State lawmakers rushed the amendment through the Legislature in August following a recent Utah Supreme Court decision that recognized the fundamental right of Utahns to alter or reform their government via the citizens’ initiative process. The ruling came as part of an ongoing lawsuit over Utah’s congressional map, which also challenged the Legislature’s repeal of a 2018 voter-approved anti-gerrymandering initiative.
Mark Gaber, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center who represents the plaintiffs in the case, said “the Utah Supreme Court upheld a fundamental principle that never should have been in doubt – the government must honestly present the questions voters are asked to decide.”
“The Utah legislature failed at every step in this process and voters will now see their constitutional rights affirmed,” Gaber added.
Original post, Sept. 12
In a win for voters, a Utah judge ordered the state to void a proposed anti-democratic amendment set to appear on the November ballot that would’ve allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to repeal or alter voter-approved ballot initiatives.
The judge’s preliminary injunction explained that while the amendment will still remain on the ballot to allow the state to meet its election deadlines, it is now “void” and will “be given no effect.”
The ruling comes in response to a legal challenge from organizations and voters who argued the measure’s ballot language is unconstitutionally misleading and maintained that the Legislature failed to provide proper notice of the amendment’s publication.
The groups took issue with how the Legislature used “deceptive” ballot language to describe the amendment as one that would “strengthen” and “clarify” the people’s right to enact citizens’ initiatives — contending it does the exact opposite.
In today’s ruling, the judge concluded that “[w]hile the Legislature has every right to request the amendment, it has the duty and the obligation to accurately communicate the ‘subject matter’ of the proposed amendment to voters and to publish the text of the amendment in a newspaper in each county two months before the election. It has failed to do both.”
As the order put it, GOP lawmakers “truncated the deadlines, sidestepped normal processes, and proposed in short order a constitutional amendment, with inaccurate descriptions, to shift power from the people to the Legislature.”
Utah Republicans rammed the amendment through the Legislature last month as part of an emergency special session, which came on the heels of a July state Supreme Court ruling that vindicated the fundamental right of Utahns to alter or reform their government via the citizens’ initiative process.
The state Supreme Court’s ruling stemmed from an ongoing legal battle over Utah’s congressional map, which also challenged the Legislature’s repeal of a 2018 voter-approved anti-gerrymandering initiative known as Proposition 4. In addition to outlining standards to curb gerrymandering, the proposition would have created an independent redistricting commission to adopt maps.
“The people of Utah are entitled to an accurate summary of any proposed constitutional amendment that impacts their fundamental rights and they are entitled to the constitutionally required notice, by publication in a newspaper two months before the election. These requirements are fundamental to the integrity of our democracy,” today’s order concluded.
Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at Campaign Legal Center, said “[t]his victory is a win for Utah’s citizens. Proposed Amendment D was yet another unconstitutional move by the legislature designed to overrule the will of the voters and consolidate power…This outcome is a direct result of the Legislature’s rush to take power for itself while ignoring the constitution and the voters.”