By McKenzie Romero | Editor
Justices on the newly expanded Utah Supreme Court are weighing their first high-profile arguments after the plaintiffs in three major lawsuits against the state pushed back on having their cases transferred to the Legislature’s new three-judge panel.
At the heart of the argument was whether lawmakers’ creation of the panel runs against the Utah Constitution, or if the law leaves the door open for it.
In today’s Dispatch we take you into the arguments over the constitutionality of the new judicial panel, the state agreements bringing artificial intelligence into your healthcare, and why President Donald Trump told Republicans to vote by mail.
“After four years of litigation and sitting inches from the finish line, PPAU’s case has been disrupted by legislation threatening to overhaul the structure of Utah’s judiciary.” — Camila Vega, attorney for Planned Parenthood Association of Utah arguing against moving the case before the new three-judge panel.
The newly expanded seven-member Utah Supreme Court hears arguments about the state’s new three-judge panel in a hearing at the Utah Supreme Court’s chambers in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, 2026. (Pool photo by Julian Conrads/FOX 13 News)
By Katie McKellar
Attorneys for lawsuits over the state’s abortion ban, gerrymandering case and climate change impacts say that nowhere in the Utah Constitution does it give lawmakers authority to create a three-judge panel to hear challenges on constitutional issues.
But the state contends that since the constitution doesn’t exclude that power, there’s nothing stopping them from making changes to the judiciary.
Zach Boyd, Director of the Utah Office of AI Policy explains an AI in healthcare initiative at a news conference on Oct. 5, 2026. (Courtesy of Utah Department of Commerce)
By Alixel Cabrera
Utahns may start seeing more artificial intelligence tools in their doctors visits now that the state signed agreements with healthcare providers to test pilots to accelerate healthcare processes through AI, including an improved medication refill system and tools to expand dermatology and postpartum offerings.
The pilot programs are part of an expansion of the state’s AI regulatory sandbox capabilities. Combined with a “master agreement” with Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health, public officials hope the efforts will help shape state policy on the technology’s safety and transparency standards with oversight from third-party evaluators.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama on Oct. 2, 2026, as he campaigns in GOP-leaning states ahead of the midterms. (Dan Anderson/Alabama Reflector)
DC BUREAU
By Jonathan Shorman
President Donald Trump wants to sharply curtail mail ballots. He’s called them “inherently corrupt” and baselessly condemned them as a major source of fraud. But with Republicans falling behind in the polls, the president is now urging his supporters to vote in the midterm elections any way they can, including by mail.
The White House has also sent emails through a government account promoting voter registration in recent days and Trump is continuing a string of campaign rallies in typically conservative states.
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