Court Opinion

ID: 9849824
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:47:10.082594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:26.667964
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Chief Justice,
concurring:
¶ 91 I concur and write only to state that in my opinion membership of legislators on the Judicial Conduct Commission also violates article VI, section 6 of the Constitution of Utah, which provides:
No person holding any public office of profit or trust under authority of the United States, or of this State, shall be a member of the Legislature: Provided, That appointments in the State Militia, and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class, shall not, within the meaning of this section, be considered offices of profit or trust.
¶ 92 This section emphasizes that a legislative office is with a few exceptions not compatible with any other state office and underscores the intent of the constitution’s framers that legislators should perform only legislative duties. By accepting appointment to the Judicial Conduct Commission, a legislator serves in a second office. While article VI, section 10 makes each house, and not the courts, the judge of the qualifications of its members, State v. Evans, 735 P.2d 29 (Utah 1987), legislators should not be exposed to the risk of forfeiting their membership in the legislature by assuming a second office.