Overview
- Gov. Spencer Cox named Jay Jorgensen and Stephen Dent to the two newly created Utah Supreme Court seats on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, and both nominees must still win advice-and-consent confirmation from the Utah Senate.
- Jay Jorgensen is a former senior counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist and worked in corporate ethics at Walmart and at Sidley Austin.
- Stephen Dent is a career prosecutor who served as deputy criminal chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. George, where he handled cases including fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, immigration offenses and murder.
- The nominations have prompted questions about the small number of female applicants and about Jorgensen’s recent church employment, which Gov. Cox said he did not treat as a disqualifier and that he prioritized legal scholarship.
- Lawmakers expanded the high court from five to seven justices this year, and with Chief Justice Matthew Durrant’s planned retirement and Justice Diana Hagen’s recent resignation the governor will have additional appointments to make this fall, a shift that could change the court’s makeup and draw ongoing scrutiny during confirmation hearings.