SALT LAKE CITY — One of Utah's newest Supreme Court justices signed a petition to repeal Proposition 4, according to a review of public records.
But Justice Michael Menssen has not recused himself from hearing appeals on the case involving independent redistricting. In fact, Justice Menssen sat for arguments in a legal challenge over a specialty court created by the Utah State Legislature to hear lawsuits against laws the legislature passes.
"The normal standards and procedures for recusal decisions have been considered and followed," a spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the Courts said in a statement.
Public records show Menssen, at the time a private citizen and an attorney, signed the Utah Republican Party-backed citizen initiative seeking to unwind Prop. 4, which was the citizen ballot initiative that passed in 2018 creating an independent redistricting process. After the Utah State Legislature overrode Prop. 4 and substituted its maps, the League of Women Voters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government sued. They won a legal challenge and a judge ordered new congressional districts (ultimately rejecting the legislature's redrawn maps in favor of ones drawn by the plaintiffs). That decision by the judge is now under appeal before the Utah Supreme Court.
Justice Menssen was appointed by Governor Spencer Cox and confirmed by the Utah State Senate to the state's top court in September. Gov. Cox and the legislature recently expanded the Utah Supreme Court to seven justices.
"Searching initiative petition packets for a candidate’s signature is not part of our merit-based review process," a spokesperson for Gov. Cox said in a statement Wednesday.
A progressive policy group that works on Utah's Capitol Hill has called for Justice Menssen to recuse himself.
"As a private citizen, Michael Menssen had every right to sign that petition. But he is not a private citizen anymore. He now sits on the court deciding the very lawsuit that seeks to enforce Prop 4, and he has already heard arguments in the case. When a judge has personally signed on to one side of a fight, the public has every reason to question his impartiality," said Alliance for a Better Utah Executive Director Katie Matheson. "This is not about whether Justice Menssen is a capable lawyer or a decent person. It is about whether Utahns can trust the outcome."
Justice John Nielsen has recused himself from hearing the Prop. 4 case because he was an attorney representing the Utah Republican Party in litigation.