Opinion ID: 2543706
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: constitutional and statutory interpretation

Text: ¶ 20 In accordance with the analytical hierarchy relative to constitutions and statutes, we first examine the textual language of the Victims Rights Amendment and look secondly to the Victims' Rights Act and the Rights of Crime Victims Act. In construing the Victims' Rights Amendment, we initially scrutinize the plain meaning of the constitutional provision. See Utah Sch. Bds. Ass'n v. Utah State Bd. of Educ., 2001 UT 2, ¶ 13, 17 P.3d 1125. We need not inquire beyond the plain meaning of the amendment unless we find it ambiguous. Id. Our inquiry is similar in reviewing the Victims' Rights Act and the Rights of Crime Victims Act. See State v. Ostler, 2001 UT 68, ¶ 7, 31 P.3d 528. As with our constitutional analysis, we look first to the plain meaning of the statutes and go no further unless they are ambiguous. See id.