1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

Hi. I'm a constituent living in Saratoga Springs. I am writing to urge you to oppose HB 512 and HB 451 and their Senate equivalents. Those bills represent the kind of legislative overreach that I just can't stand. I don't want partisan legislators to be able to tell their voters which judges to vote for and which to vote out. That opens the floodgates for retaliation against judges who made judgements in opposition to pet projects of the legislators, while rewarding judges who bow to the legislators will rather than providing truly independent and nonpartisan judgments based on the merits of each case. Likewise, I don't think 1/3 of the voters should be able to unseat judges. That shifts the balance of power to a disgruntled minority. We don't believe in minority rule in this state, do we? A strong independent judiciary is crucial to maintain the balance of power upon which our government is built. HB 512 and HB 451 undermine that balance. I have similar concerns regarding SB 203 and SB 296. All of the mentioned bills combined seem designed to strip the judiciary of its independence and to make it subservient to the other branches of government. Please oppose any bills that undermine our independent judiciary and/or weaken the balance of power.