Published: July 17, 2025
By Ed Wallace | Publisher: Utah Standard News and Founder of The Republic Project

In a remarkable move rarely seen in modern Utah politics, a group of ordinary citizens filed a Petition for Extraordinary Writ of Mandamus with the Utah Supreme Court on June 25, 2025, challenging what they call the state’s deliberate and unconstitutional obstruction of citizen-led ballot initiatives.

The petition, accepted by the Utah Supreme Court and now designated Case No. 20250701-SC, may be the most consequential constitutional challenge filed by citizens in recent memory. It directly confronts Utah’s increasingly difficult legal maze preventing voters from placing initiatives and referenda on the ballot, a right enshrined in both Article VI, Section 1(2) of the Utah Constitution and reaffirmed in decades of court precedent.

Utah’s supreme court is arguably the first high court in the Union to recognize the fundamental right of the People to redress their grievances through the initiative process (League of Women Voters v. Utah State Legislature, SC 2024).

One of the filers, Daniel Newby, told USN:: “The Utah Constitution recognizes that all legislative power is derived from the people, who share it with the legislature from time-to-time.”

Another filer Tracie Halvorsen, stated: “I hope this case reminds us all that true authority resides with the people, not lobbyists or insiders. It’s a call to uphold our founders’ vision and ensure our voices remain central in shaping our government.”

The Lawsuit: Restoring the People’s Power

The 40-page petition, backed by an equally formidable Memorandum of Authorities, lays out a compelling case: That the Legislature, Governor, and Lt. Governor have colluded, over the past decade, to dismantle the initiative process through a pattern of legislation, obstruction, and manipulation, rendering citizen participation in lawmaking functionally impossible.

Read the Petition: Petition for Extraordinary Writ of Mandamus – Full PDF
Memorandum of Authorities: Filed Legal Brief – Full PDF

The petitioners, led by Steven Maxfield, Daniel Newby, Tracie Halvorsen, Brent Odenwalder, Bart Grant, Nancy Inman, Kerry Lund, Sharla Christie, Nancy Lord, Janalee Tobias, and Wayne Wickizer,.represent a cross-section of Utahns with no political office, no financial incentive, and no desire for fame. Their shared purpose: to defend the Constitution and reclaim the people’s voice in governance.

“We the People have the right to initiate laws. This lawsuit demands that right be restored.”

Context: A Pattern of Suppression

This is not the first time Utah voters have fought back.

In 2019, the Legislature passed a sweeping tax reform package raising sales taxes on food and gasoline, only to see a referendum effort surge with over 152,000 signatures, forcing a repeal. See:
🔗 Utah’s 2019 Tax Reform Backlash – Deseret News
🔗 Utah Tax Reform Crashed & Burned – Utah News Dispatch

In response, lawmakers have passed over 100 bills, by some counts, designed to increase signature thresholds, limit canvassing, restrict timelines, and hand control of initiative approvals to the very officials being challenged.

A recent example: HB267 (2024) sparked a new wave of resistance. In just six weeks, voters gathered over 130,000 signatures, backed by groups like the Fraternal Order of Police, despite significant legal and procedural hurdles.
🔗 KSL: HB267 Referendum Gains Traction

“Utah has created one of the most oppressive initiative processes in the nation,” the petition states.

This Voter Revolt Has Deep Roots.

It can be traced back to 2010, when establishment Senator Robert Bennett, a three-term incumbent, was ousted by delegates and replaced with constitutional conservative Mike Lee at the Utah Republican Convention. Bennett had been enthusiastically endorsed by Mitt Romney, who, along with then Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox,was later loudly booed by grassroots delegates at subsequent conventions. That defeat sent shockwaves through Utah’s political elite.

In response, Utah’s ruling class passed SB54 (Count My Vote) in 2014, stripping political parties of their constitutional right to choose their own candidates through the caucus/convention system. It became harder for career politicians to control the process or even identify a strategy to keep the wool pulled over the electorate’s eyes. So the political establishment began throwing legal and procedural wrenches into the system until something jammed the gears of participatory democracy.

“It just wouldn’t do to have voters meddling in the affairs of the best-managed, well-heeled and controlled democratic republic in the country.” Ed

But SB54 didn’t support a constitutional republic, it supported a banana republic. It handed power to Utah’s ultra-rich oligarchy, giving them the tools to preserve their influence over both parties.

SB54 was a response to losing a favored Senator, and a favored party. After controlling Utah politics for nearly four decades, the oligarchy wasn’t about to let the people reclaim the wheel. Let’s be honest: the entire purpose of SB54 was to thwart the election of platform Republicans. The last thing Utah’s puppet masters wanted was an empowered citizenry making decisions through a grassroots caucus system.

Many of Utah’s current elected officials would not hold office today without SB54.

Media Blackout: Where Are the Headlines?

Despite its historical and constitutional weight, this legal filing has received virtually no coverage in Utah’s mainstream press. To date, only two articles from Fox13 and Deseret News mention it.  

No utterance from the Salt Lake Tribune, no editorial from the Deseret News, and no acknowledgment from the state’s taxpayer-funded PBS affiliate. The silence is loud and deeply troubling.

Meanwhile, the Court has taken the case seriously enough to assign it a docket and begin review. As of this writing, Governor Spencer Cox and Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson have not responded to requests for comment.

What’s at Stake?

The implications are massive. If the Court grants the Writ, it could invalidate years of legislative roadblocks and restore the original intent of Utah’s initiative power,  a direct check on government overreach written into the state’s founding document.

It would also send a resounding message: That citizens still hold sovereign authority, even in the face of entrenched political machines.

JanaleeTobias, another filer who has been gathering petition signature since the mid 1990’s said: “The legislature just keeps making every effort to silence “vox populi,” the voice of the people. I would like to call attention to the fact that every time an initiative petition or referendum is successful, the Utah Legislature increases the number of signatures and adds more burdens to accomplish this.”

This is just the beginning. Future articles in this series will explore:

• The constitutional arguments in detail
• A scorecard of legislative manipulation
• Media complicity and narrative control
• Interviews with petitioners and legal scholars
• The national relevance of this Utah case

For now, one thing is clear:
This case deserves to be front-page news.