Judge denies injunction in state flag initiative case, says lawsuit 'unlikely to prevail'

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has denied an injunction that would have extended the deadline to collect signatures for organizers of an initiative seeking to reverse Utah's new flag law, adding that the organizers are "unlikely to prevail" in their case.

U.S. District Court Judge Jill Parrish handed down her decision in a 33-page ruling on Monday, siding with the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office over Tracie Halvorsen and the group Are You Listening Yet PAC. The two filed the lawsuit last month along with a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to extend the initiative signing deadline from Feb. 15 to July 8.

In it, Parrish wrote that the U.S. District Court only has the jurisdiction to consider seven of the 10 claims in the lawsuit. In addition, she wrote that the plaintiffs — Halvorsen and Are You Listening Yet PAC — "are not likely to succeed on the merits" of those seven claims, resulting in her decision to deny the motion.

"Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable harm absent preliminary injunctive relief," she wrote. "This fact alone is sufficient to compel the court to deny plaintiffs' motion. But plaintiffs' motion also suffers from other faults. Plaintiffs lack standing to bring two of their claims, and a third claim alleged in plaintiffs' complaint is moot."

Are You Listening Yet PAC issued a statement after the ruling saying that its attorneys are still reviewing the ruling as it was handed out late in the day. Officials said they would have more to say in the coming days.

"While we were definitely hoping for a different decision from Judge Parrish, we remain undeterred," the statement says, in part.

Parrish's ruling came two days after last year's SB31 became law. The bill established Utah's new state flag design and turned the previous design into the state's historical flag. Its implementation was held up until Saturday because it was the earliest Utah Flag Day for the bill to go into law. All flag laws can only go into effect on March 9, per state code.

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Utah's new flag went into law on Saturday, more than a year after the design was formally approved. The state celebrated in a big way.

Meanwhile, the initiative — led by several Utah residents — emerged last year, seeking to overturn SB31 and institute a new provision in state law that requires future flag decisions to go on ballots instead of a legislative process.

It ultimately received 81,992 valid signatures by the Feb. 15 deadline. Over 17,000 additional signatures were either determined to be invalid or were unverified at the time of the deadline. The group needed over 130,000 signatures, including a certain percentage from every senate district, to get the measure on this year's ballot.

Halvorsen and Are You Listening Yet PAC filed a lawsuit against Utah shortly before the deadline. It challenges multiple aspects of Utah's initiative process and calls the Feb. 15 deadline "unconstitutional." Halvorsen said last month that the state also took steps that made it difficult for the group to collect enough signatures to get the initiative placed on this year's ballot.

"It's not just a flag. It's about the people's voice and how we're not being listened to," she said at the time. "They made this process so hard."

Utah lawyers had asked Parrish to deny the injunction, arguing that it would "harm the public interest by shifting election deadlines." Their motion in court came after Gov. Spencer Cox said last month that he was confident in Utah's case.

Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, who sponsored SB31, also believes Utah did nothing wrong between the bill and initiative process.

"I'm confident we all followed the law and we've done what's supposed to be done," he said, following a ceremony to celebrate the new flag design going into law on Saturday. "I'm confident that this is the new state flag."

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