The term of one Utah Supreme Court justice will expire on January 3, 2027. The one seat is up for a retention election on November 3, 2026.

Justice Jill Pohlman is standing for retention. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) appointed her in 2022. Originally, Justice Diana Hagen was also scheduled to stand for retention, but Hagen resigned in May after the legislature announced plans for an independent investigation of Hagen over previously dismissed allegations of an improper relationship with a redistricting attorney who had argued before the court.

Bolts Magazine's Daniel Nichanian said that state Republicans had disagreed with the court over two rulings: "First, the justices issued a unanimous, landmark ruling in 2024 that safeguarded direct democracy and rebuffed the GOP for ignoring a voter-approved redistricting reform; then, in 2025, after a local judge struck down the GOP's congressional gerrymander, the supreme court let the decision stand."

State Republicans have taken various actions to address the court. On January 31, 2026, Gov. Cox signed a bill expanding the number of justices from five to seven. At the state Republican Party's convention on April 28, chair Robert Axon opposed the retentions of Hagen and Pohlman, saying, "Vote no. These two people who ignore the Constitution have zero business being in the robe. They have zero business making decisions for us. This is our state — we believe in representative government."

Cox also supported a no vote on retention, saying, "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 in a retention election." Utah State Bar executive director Elizabeth Wright wrote, "Judges are bound by ethical obligations to apply the law as written, even when doing so may be unpopular. Disagreement with a specific ruling should not be the basis for removal."

In Utah, a justice can run a campaign if they face an actively organized opposition campaign. Pohlman had not set up a campaign or released statements about the vote as of October 2026. To win retention, Pohlman would need to receive a majority of the vote.

Ballotpedia has analyzed the results of retention elections going back to 1990. In 17 elections, no justice in Utah lost a retention election in that period. On average, Utah voters have retained justices with 80.6% of the vote, the fourth-highest average percentage in the country. In states with retention elections, voters have retained justices with 71.5% of the vote. Only nine justices nationwide have lost retention elections in this time, the most recent instance being in 2024, when Oklahoma voted to remove a sitting justice for the first time. To read more of Ballotpedia's analysis, click here.

Utah is one of 13 states holding retention elections in 2026 and one of 31 holding state supreme court elections. To read more about state supreme court elections up in 2026, click here.