The Utah Supreme Court handed voters rights advocates a win after it voided a ballot measure that would have given state legislators the authority to rewrite ballot questions and veto ballot measures if voters approved them.
The ballot measure was supported by Republican state legislators, who hold a supermajority in both chambers of the Utah state house. This ruling upheld the decision of 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson to keep Amendment D off the ballot.
“The district court correctly ruled that neither constitutional prerequisite was met with respect to Amendment D,” the per curiam decision from the Supreme Court said.
“The Legislature did not cause the amendment to be published in newspapers throughout the state for two months, and the description that will appear on the ballot does not submit the amendment to voters ‘with such clarity as to enable the voters to express their will,’” the decision continued.
After the ruling, the Utah Democratic Party released a statement that said the decision “ensures that voters can make their voices heard, despite all the Republican Supermajority’s attempts to trick Utahns into giving away their power.”
Amendment D, if successfully passed, would have given Utah lawmakers the constitutional authority to rewrite voter-approved ballot measures or repeal them entirely. Utah legislators could also go back to previous laws passed by the voters to make revisions.
In August 2024, the Utah legislature created Amendment D in an emergency special session. State lawmakers said the amendment would “strengthen and clarify” the citizen initiative process for future elections in the state, according to ABC 4 Salt Lake City. They also claimed the measure would keep “foreign” influence out of Utah’s law structure.
President J. Stuart Adams and Speaker Mike Schultz, Utah’s legislative leadership, released a statement after the decision on behalf of the legislature.
“The Court’s action is unprecedented and troubling. The Legislature offered the Court a way to preserve the voting rights of all Utahns, but instead, the Court took the chance to vote on Amendment D out of the voters’ hands. It’s a sad day for Utah and voters, whether for or against the constitutional amendments,” the pair said.
Opponents of the amendment said this language is misleading and believed it would strip Utah voters of their constitutional rights.
“There is nothing in the ballot language that informs the voter that that is the fact. It is false and misleading in a number of ways and is actually counterfactual,” said Mark Gaber, arguing on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Utah, who was for axing the ballot measure.
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“The central feature of Amendment D is that the legislature has unfettered power under the Amendment to repeal any initiative that a voter passes. You do not see the word ‘repeal’ anywhere on the ballot summary, but that is the key power the legislature is transferring to itself,” Gaber continued.
The measure will still be on the ballot, but the outcome of the vote will not lead to any change in law. The Utah Supreme Court said a more detailed opinion about its decision will be published at a later date.