Court Opinion

ID: 9600417
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:26:55.164196+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:06.656058
License: Public Domain

STEWART, Justice
(concurring):
I fully concur in the opinion of the Court, but like Justice Oaks, feel constrained to add an additional comment. Unlike Justice Oaks, I concurred in State v. Taylor, Utah, 664 P.2d 439 (1983), which sustained the constitutionality of the statute authorizing this Court to hear appeals in cases which arise in the circuit courts and which involve constitutional issues. Nevertheless, I agree with Justice Oaks that the caseload of this Court is far too great and that the mandatory requirement imposed by U.C.A., 1953, § 78-3-5, that we hear every appeal from a case originated in a circuit court “involving a constitutional issue” imposes an undue burden on this Court which contributes to our overload and threatens the integrity of the deliberative processes indispensable to the proper functioning of an appellate court. This is all the more true now that it is clear that this Court does have jurisdiction of constitutional issues in cases initiated in a circuit court. There can be little doubt from any objective point of view that legislative action to permit this Court to exercise discretionary jurisdiction rather than mandatory jurisdiction in such cases is highly desirable and would make at least a small contribution toward solving the caseload problem of this Court.
HOWE, J., concurs in the concurring opinion of STEWART, J.