The Great Utah Landgrab – More Government Overreach. January, 2025

On December 18, 2024 the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed a lawsuit in Utah’s Third District Court to challenge the State’s litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court over control of public lands. The lawsuit alleges that Governor Cox and Attorney General Reyes violated Utah’s Constitution and the Utah Enabling Act.

Summary of Utah’s lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and diversion of state resources

On August 20, 2024 Utah filed a lawsuit directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, questioning the legitimacy of the BLM ownership of 18.5 million acres of land within Utah. This legal conflict risks diverting significant resources away from more pressing public concerns. Utah has already spent millions on legal fees, which could be better allocated to essential areas like education, healthcare and infrastructure. By prioritizing litigation over public services, the state is overlooking the immediate needs of its citizens. Read more

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Threats to the Judiciary: Another Legislative Power Surge. December, 2024

“The statutory and constitutional rights of the people of Utah depend on an independent judiciary. Without it, those rights are threatened,” declared Utah State Court Administrator Ron Gordon in a November 7, 2024, Salt LakeTribune opinion piece.

Utah’s judiciary is an independent, government branch created to apply and sometimes necessarily interpret statutory and constitutional rights. Its independent status, however, has been undermined in recent years as the state legislature has asserted political power over the other branches of government. This trend, materializing nationwide, has seen “politicians redoubling their efforts to assert political power over state judicial branches and ensure judges would not be an obstacle to their policy goals.” And with these efforts, the rights of Utahns and the independence of our judicial branch are indeed threatened. Read more

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UCC Update on 2024 Utah Legislature: Issues Concerning Imbalance in Utah Governance. May 1, 2024.

UCC followed several specific issues of concern during the 2024 legislative session. We are providing updates on those we mentioned in our “Growing Concern About Imbalance in Utah Governance” distributed just prior to the beginning of the 2024 session. Click on the links below for the updates:

  1. 2024 legislative activity affecting “career service” employment
  2. 2024 legislative activity affecting citizen initiative rights
  3. 2024 legislative activity affecting state v. municipal authority
  4. 2024 legislative activity affecting the role of the judiciary
  5. 2024 legislation affecting proposed removal of the constitutional income-tax earmark

If you missed seeing our earlier document on “Growing Concern About Imbalance in Utah Governance” and would like to read it, here is a link to that document and its accompanying briefs.

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To view our previous briefs and reports, click the Policy Briefs/Positions tab above.