- Critics question Utah Supreme Court nominees over lack of experience as judges.
- Gov. Spencer Cox said he picked both nominees after a "rigorous" process and has "tremendous confidence."
- Senate hearings on June 12 and 15 will evaluate their fitness for roles. The Senate is expected to hold confirmation votes on June 17.
SALT LAKE CITY — A nonprofit is raising questions about the qualifications of the two men nominated by Gov. Spencer Cox to serve on Utah's Supreme Court, given that neither has prior experience as a judge.
Although nominees Jay Jorgensen and Stephen Dent have experience in corporate law and prosecution, respectively, and the governor said he has "tremendous confidence" in each, Co-Equal Utah issued a statement in response to their appointments saying it was "deeply concerned" about their lack of experience on the bench.
"The Utah Supreme Court is not an entry-level position," the statement said. "It is the court of last resort for every Utahn. The governor has bypassed sitting judges with years of trial and appellate experience to place two individuals with no judicial record directly on the state's highest court. Utahns deserve to know why."
Co-Equal Utah is a nonpartisan organization made up of volunteer attorneys that aims to promote judicial independence and preserve the separation of powers, according to its website.
Teneille Brown, the president of Co-Equal Utah's board, said experience overseeing a courtroom is valuable, as justices will make rulings that will impact the day-to-day process of hearing cases in Utah's lower courts.
"I just find it very hard to believe that someone could go from having zero trial experience to now making rules for trial court judges and to do that well," she said.
Cox announced he was nominating Jorgensen and Dent to the high court on Tuesday, after interviewing a total of 12 candidates submitted by the Appellate Judicial Nominating Commission.
Jorgensen has worked as a top lawyer for Coupang Inc. and Walmart, and most recently as a senior attorney for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while Dent is the deputy criminal chief in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah.
The governor said the vetting process for both was "rigorous" and said they were the most qualified applicants in the pool, despite not having served on the bench.
But as the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee is set to question both nominees in hearings on June 12 and 15, Co-Equal Utah — which was founded in January to promote an independent judiciary — is asking senators to thoroughly evaluate the fitness of each and make the hearings "a genuine review, not a formality."
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, chairs the committee and told reporters on Tuesday that his committee will "keep an open mind" about the nominees. He said he doesn't have any concerns about either nominee, and said Jorgensen "probably had the most impressive resume" of the 12 candidates vetted by the governor.
The two appointments are the result of a recently-expanded state Supreme Court after lawmakers voted to increase the number of justices from five to seven. It was one of multiple bills proposed this year to reform the judiciary, after several recent high-profile court rulings against lawmakers, including one on redistricting that threw out the Legislature's congressional map.
Brown and others have also criticized the lack of diversity among the 12 nominees submitted to the governor by the nominating commission. All 12 were white men.
Brown said there's a lot of "self-selection going on where women aren't wanting to apply."
"I've reached out to friends of mine ... who are judges who are just extraordinary ethical judges with tons of integrity, and they don't want to apply because it seems like a waste of time to them," she said.
Cox addressed similar criticism on Tuesday, saying that only four of the 25 applicants to the open positions were women, and only two of those would have been qualified for the role. He said that was possibly the lowest number of female applicants in recent history.
"I wish more had applied," he told reporters.
The Utah Supreme Court until recently had a female-led majority, with two of those justices having been appointed by Cox.
Cox will have the chance to nominate an additional two justices later this year thanks to Justice Diana Hagen stepping down last month and Chief Justice Matthew Durrant announcing plans to retire at the end of August. The governor said he would look to select the best candidates, regardless of gender.
"I don't care if you're a male or female when you apply," he said. "I don't go into this looking at your chromosomes when I'm making an appointment. I'm trying to find the best legal minds who will represent the state of Utah, and I think that's all that should matter."
