The Utah congressional delegation intends to vote to name the new federal courthouse in Salt Lake City after Sen. Orrin Hatch. By this act, the delegation ignores the will of the Utah Legislature.
In 2013, the Legislature passed House Joint Resolution 9, which urged the congressional delegation to name the courthouse after George Sutherland, the only Utahn to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The resolution detailed Justice Sutherland’s public service to the people of Utah, including as a trial lawyer, founder of the Utah State Bar, overseer of the Utah State Hospital in Provo, state senator, author of Utah’s first worker’s compensation statute, a U.S. congressman, a U.S. senator, champion of women’s suffrage and the author of the 19th Amendment giving women the vote, constitutional scholar, Supreme Court practitioner and, from 1922 to 1938, a justice of the Supreme Court.
Justice Sutherland was unanimously approved by the Senate the same day he was nominated by the president. The Utah Legislature rightfully found that Sutherland was the most accomplished lawyer and public servant in Utah’s history.
Our congressional delegation regularly objects to Washington, D.C., dictating how public lands in Utah should be used without first considering the wishes of the Utah citizenry and Legislature. It is too bad the delegation disregards these same wishes when it comes to recognizing public servants and naming important public buildings.
Andrew M. Morse, Salt Lake City
