| League of Women Voters v. Utah State Legislature | |
| Court: | Utah Supreme Court |
| Date Decided: | July 11, 2024 |
| Full Name: | League of Women Voters of Utah, et al. v. Utah State Legislature, et al. |
| Citations: | 2024 UT 21 |
| Questionspresented: | Are citizen initiatives that alter or reform the government protected from legislative changes or repeal? |
| Holding: | The people have the right to alter or reform their government through citizen initiatives. Legislative changes that impair these reforms must be shown to be narrowly tailored to advance a compelling government interest. |
| Judge: | Matthew B. Durrant, Chief Justice Associate Chief Justice Justices |
| Number Of Judges: | 5 |
| Majority: | Peterson |
| Joinmajority: | unanimous |
| Laws Applied: | Utah Const. art. I § 2 Proposition 4 S.B. 200 |
| Italic Title: | yes |
League of Women Voters v. Utah State Legislature was a 2024 Utah Supreme Court decision regarding the ability of the Utah State Legislature to amend ballot initiatives.
The case arose out of the passage of Proposition 4 by Utah voters in 2018, which made changes to redistricting procedures, including the creation of an independent redistricting commission, designed to stop gerrymandering. Following the passage of Proposition 4, the Utah State Legislature passed S.B. 200, which made multiple changes to Proposition 4, including removing the ban on partisan gerrymandering.[1] In 2021 the Utah State Legislature ignored the recommendations of the independent commission and instead passed their own Congressional map which was widely viewed as gerrymandered.[2] As a result, a number of organizations sued, including the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government. The case came before the Utah Supreme Court on interlocutory appeal.
The Utah Supreme Court heard oral arguments on July 11, 2023. Observers reported that the justices appeared skeptical of the legislature's arguments.[3] Exactly one year later on July 11, 2024, the court unanimously (5-0) ruled in favor of the League of Women Voters.[4] The court ruled that the people have a constitutional right to "alter or reform their government" and that it is protected from government infringement. Ballot initiatives that alter or reform the government are thus protected from impairment by the state legislature unless the legislature can show that those changes are "narrowly tailored to advance a compelling government interest." The court then remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings.
The decision was met with immediate criticism by Republican legislative leaders in the state, who called it “one of the worst outcomes we have ever seen from the Utah Supreme Court.” A month after the ruling, the Utah State Legislature called itself into emergency session to propose a constitutional amendment to undo the Utah Supreme Court's decision.[5] The legislature quickly passed Amendment D and placed it on the ballot for the 2024 elections with opposition from all Democratic and some Republican legislators. The amendment, which would have given the Utah State Legislature the power to amend any ballot initiative in any way it chooses, was criticized as being misleading. The legislature had previously changed the law to allow legislative leaders to write the ballot summary instead of nonpartisan staff. A lawsuit against the amendment was filed, arguing that it was misleading and had not followed a requirement that all proposed amendments be published in newspapers for 60 days prior to an election. A district court judge struck down the amendment, ruling that votes on it would not be counted. On appeal to the Utah Supreme Court, the court affirmed the lower court's decision in a unanimous (5-0) ruling, saying in part that "[n]ot only does the ballot title omit a central feature of Amendment D, but the included language would lead a reasonable voter to believe that the amendment does something entirely different."[6] Utah legislative leaders have indicated that they will try to place a similar amendment on the ballot next year.[7]