7 candidates are on the ballot. One ballot can carry several appellate seats, and the note below sets out which contest is which. For each judge: the record, any official performance evaluation, and the arguments published for and against them.
Utah does not hold contested elections for appellate judges. They are nominated by a commission, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, and then face voters only in yes-or-no retention questions with no party label — which is why no party is listed below. A judge is retained by a majority of yes votes; a no vote leaves a vacancy the governor fills the same way. Seven appellate retention questions are on the November 3, 2026 ballot and every Utah voter votes on all of them. In ballot order: Utah Supreme Court — Associate Chief Justice Jill Pohlman, for a ten-year term. Utah Court of Appeals — Michele Christiansen Forster, Gregory K. Orme, David Mortensen, Ryan M. Harris, John Luthy and Amy Oliver, each for a six-year term. Two things changed the shape of this ballot during 2026. Justice Diana Hagen had also been due to stand for retention, but she resigned on May 8, 2026, so her question came off the ballot; Chief Justice Matthew Durrant retired on August 31, 2026, and the court was expanded from five seats to seven, with new appointees who will not face voters until a later cycle. And the Utah Republican Party mounted an organised campaign against retaining Hagen and Pohlman after the court’s unanimous July 2024 ruling that the legislature could not repeal most of a voter-approved ballot initiative — a ruling that led to a court-ordered congressional map in 2025. That makes Pohlman’s the one Utah retention question in 2026 with a real campaign attached to it, and both sides of it are set out in her entry below. Utah runs an official judicial performance evaluation: the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, created by the legislature in 2008, publishes a report and a retention recommendation for every judge on the ballot in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov. JPEC states that it does not review court rulings.
7 candidates · ballot order · Jill Pohlman currently holds this seat
Medium confidenceMedium confidenceThe candidate's stated positions and basic record are documented, but coverage is thin — often little independent reporting, or criticism from only one side.What would raise it: More independent reporting, a documented voting record, or published criticism from a named opponent would raise this.
What they say they stand for
Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.
Nothing documented in the sources reviewed.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Associate Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court; appointed to the Supreme Court in 2022 and to the Utah Court of Appeals in 2016.
Joined the Utah Supreme Court’s unanimous July 2024 decision holding that the legislature could not repeal or substantially amend a ballot initiative approved by voters — the 2018 initiative creating an independent redistricting commission. That holding led in 2025 to a court-ordered congressional map.
Utah Supreme Court justices serve ten-year terms between retention votes.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, whose report and recommendation appear in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov. Supreme Court justices are evaluated three times per term.
Arguments in favor
Voters should decide retention on the commission’s overall performance evaluation rather than on a single ruling they dislike. Bar president-elect Tyler Young put it this way: “We at the Bar don’t think a judge should be looking over their shoulder and wondering ... am I gonna make the Legislature upset?”
— Utah State Bar, through president-elect Tyler Young
Arguments against
Utah Republican Party chair Robert Axson urged delegates at the April 2026 state convention to vote against retaining Pohlman, saying the justices who joined the 2024 ballot-initiative ruling “ignore the Constitution” and have “zero business being in the robe,” and asking delegates to fund a campaign to unseat them.
— Robert Axson, chair of the Utah Republican Party
Governor Spencer Cox defended the campaign as a legitimate use of the retention ballot: “This is how the system should work. If people don’t like decisions that are coming out of our Supreme Court ... the appropriate way to deal with that is to vote against those judges.”
— Governor Spencer Cox
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for Pohlman could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the published report in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet is the authoritative source.
No organised campaign group formed specifically to support Pohlman’s retention was identified; the Utah State Bar’s position is a general statement about how retention votes should be decided, not an endorsement of her.
Whether the Republican Party campaign continued after Justice Hagen’s May 2026 resignation, and at what scale, could not be established from the sources reviewed.
Utah Court of Appeals judges serve six-year terms between retention votes, after an initial term of at least three years following appointment.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, an independent 13-member body created by statute in 2008 with an equal balance of lawyers and public members, four appointed by the governor, four by the legislature and four by the Utah Supreme Court. Its retention report is published in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov.
JPEC states that it does not review court rulings — the appellate process does that — and that it is separate from the court system and from the Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates misconduct complaints.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for this judge could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the site’s judge lookup would not return results. The published report is the authoritative source and appears in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet.
No organised campaign either for or against this judge’s retention was found. The 2026 campaign by Utah Republican Party leaders was directed at the Supreme Court, not at Court of Appeals judges. Searched: the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Utah News Dispatch, Axios Salt Lake City and Utah State Bar statements.
No analysis of this judge’s published opinions was found.
Utah Court of Appeals judges serve six-year terms between retention votes, after an initial term of at least three years following appointment.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, an independent 13-member body created by statute in 2008 with an equal balance of lawyers and public members, four appointed by the governor, four by the legislature and four by the Utah Supreme Court. Its retention report is published in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov.
JPEC states that it does not review court rulings — the appellate process does that — and that it is separate from the court system and from the Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates misconduct complaints.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for this judge could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the site’s judge lookup would not return results. The published report is the authoritative source and appears in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet.
No organised campaign either for or against this judge’s retention was found. The 2026 campaign by Utah Republican Party leaders was directed at the Supreme Court, not at Court of Appeals judges. Searched: the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Utah News Dispatch, Axios Salt Lake City and Utah State Bar statements.
No analysis of this judge’s published opinions was found.
Utah Court of Appeals judges serve six-year terms between retention votes, after an initial term of at least three years following appointment.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, an independent 13-member body created by statute in 2008 with an equal balance of lawyers and public members, four appointed by the governor, four by the legislature and four by the Utah Supreme Court. Its retention report is published in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov.
JPEC states that it does not review court rulings — the appellate process does that — and that it is separate from the court system and from the Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates misconduct complaints.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for this judge could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the site’s judge lookup would not return results. The published report is the authoritative source and appears in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet.
No organised campaign either for or against this judge’s retention was found. The 2026 campaign by Utah Republican Party leaders was directed at the Supreme Court, not at Court of Appeals judges. Searched: the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Utah News Dispatch, Axios Salt Lake City and Utah State Bar statements.
No analysis of this judge’s published opinions was found.
Utah Court of Appeals judges serve six-year terms between retention votes, after an initial term of at least three years following appointment.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, an independent 13-member body created by statute in 2008 with an equal balance of lawyers and public members, four appointed by the governor, four by the legislature and four by the Utah Supreme Court. Its retention report is published in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov.
JPEC states that it does not review court rulings — the appellate process does that — and that it is separate from the court system and from the Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates misconduct complaints.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for this judge could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the site’s judge lookup would not return results. The published report is the authoritative source and appears in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet.
No organised campaign either for or against this judge’s retention was found. The 2026 campaign by Utah Republican Party leaders was directed at the Supreme Court, not at Court of Appeals judges. Searched: the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Utah News Dispatch, Axios Salt Lake City and Utah State Bar statements.
No analysis of this judge’s published opinions was found.
Utah Court of Appeals judges serve six-year terms between retention votes, after an initial term of at least three years following appointment.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, an independent 13-member body created by statute in 2008 with an equal balance of lawyers and public members, four appointed by the governor, four by the legislature and four by the Utah Supreme Court. Its retention report is published in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov.
JPEC states that it does not review court rulings — the appellate process does that — and that it is separate from the court system and from the Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates misconduct complaints.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for this judge could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the site’s judge lookup would not return results. The published report is the authoritative source and appears in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet.
No organised campaign either for or against this judge’s retention was found. The 2026 campaign by Utah Republican Party leaders was directed at the Supreme Court, not at Court of Appeals judges. Searched: the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Utah News Dispatch, Axios Salt Lake City and Utah State Bar statements.
No analysis of this judge’s published opinions was found.
Utah Court of Appeals judges serve six-year terms between retention votes, after an initial term of at least three years following appointment.
Evaluated by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, an independent 13-member body created by statute in 2008 with an equal balance of lawyers and public members, four appointed by the governor, four by the legislature and four by the Utah Supreme Court. Its retention report is published in the state Voter Information Pamphlet and at judges.utah.gov.
JPEC states that it does not review court rulings — the appellate process does that — and that it is separate from the court system and from the Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates misconduct complaints.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
JPEC’s individual 2026 retention recommendation and survey scores for this judge could not be retrieved from judges.utah.gov during research; the site’s judge lookup would not return results. The published report is the authoritative source and appears in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet.
No organised campaign either for or against this judge’s retention was found. The 2026 campaign by Utah Republican Party leaders was directed at the Supreme Court, not at Court of Appeals judges. Searched: the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Utah News Dispatch, Axios Salt Lake City and Utah State Bar statements.
No analysis of this judge’s published opinions was found.
Positions and criticism are quoted from the named sources, not our assessments. This is built to help you start getting informed — confirm the official candidate list with your election authority before you vote.
This is one contest on a longer ballot
A Utah ballot also carries state legislative districts, county offices, judicial seats and often local questions — and which of them you vote on is decided by your street address, not your city or ZIP code.
Your ballot is determined by your election authority, not by us. Verify your registration, precinct, and sample ballot at Utah Lieutenant Governor — Elections.