Utah Legislature appeals decision blocking Amendment D from the ballot

The Utah Legislature is asking the Utah Supreme Court to review and reverse the decision keeping Amendment D, the proposal to amend the Utah Constitution related to citizen-led ballot initiatives, off the ballot.
In a filing Friday afternoon with the Utah Court of Appeals, the Legislature’s legal team decried Thursday’s ruling from 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson granting a preliminary injunction that effectively blocks the proposed question from the Nov. 5 ballot.
“Time is of the essence. The district court’s order has cast a shadow over the election — in particular, whether Utahns should be learning about, campaigning for and voting on Amendment D,” reads the filing by attorney Tyler Green, representing the state.
He argues that Gibson’s preliminary injunction should be vacated so the ballot question can go to voters and asks the Supreme Court to take up the matter next week. “People decide elections; courts don’t,” reads the first sentence of the filing.
The attorney for the plaintiffs, which include Mormon Women for Ethical Government and the League of Women Voters of Utah, meantime, said Gibson got it right.
“The district court’s decision was correct,” Mark Gaber said in a statement. “In their rush to transfer power from the people to themselves, the legislative leadership wrote deceptive ballot language and simply ignored the Constitution’s publication requirement. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the appeal, I am confident they too will enforce the Constitution.”
The Utah Legislature voted late last month to put a ballot question to voters, Amendment D, asking them to affirm the right of lawmakers to tweak, change and repeal citizen-led ballot initiatives. Critics see the proposal as a power grab by the GOP-dominated Legislature and they argued that the language of the ballot question was misleading, leading to the preliminary injunction issued by Gibson.
Contributor: Lindsay Aerts