- Rep. Burgess Owens urged Republicans to vote against retaining two Utah Supreme Court justices.
- Owens criticized the justices for their rulings on redistricting and abortion cases.
- Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy revealed that he struggled with an addiction to pornography starting as a teenager.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Rep. Burgess Owens urged a crowd of Republicans on Friday to vote against retaining a pair of Utah Supreme Court judges over the court's recent rulings on redistricting and abortion.
The congressman announced in March he would not seek reelection later this year after a district judge eliminated one of Utah's safe Republican congressional districts. That ruling followed a Utah Supreme Court decision saying state lawmakers had overreached by changing a voter-led initiative meant to prevent gerrymandering.
"Our state is not the conservative, red state we deserve to be," Owens told a crowd gathered at an event hosted by the Utah College Republicans at the University of Utah. "The left plays games. ... We need to make sure that we hold people accountable."
Owens, a Republican first elected in 2020, pointed specifically to Justices Diana Hagen and Jill Pohlman, both of whom will need to win retention elections this fall if they want to stay on the high court. Both justices voted with the 5-0 majority in the redistricting case in 2024.
"You see what happens when Democrats don't see accountability, they get very confident," Owens continued. "They get very cocky. ... They are guaranteed to continue their lifestyle as they destroy everybody else's."
All of Utah's justices were appointed by Republicans and confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate. Republicans of all stripes have lambasted the Supreme Court over the redistricting ruling, and some state lawmakers have threatened impeachment, but Owens is one of the highest-ranking officials to make an explicit pitch to vote out justices over rulings they disagree with.
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, who has not been shy about his disagreement with the courts, was sitting in the front row as Owens delivered his remarks.
Schultz nodded and said, "Yes."
"At the end of the day, all of us are responsible to we the people," Owens told KSL. "There's nobody above that, and it's time for our judicial system to understand that. They have to be held accountable. ... We wanted to give a message that we do not have leftist judges dictating our culture. This is the year to make it work."
A spokesperson for the Utah courts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the new map was adopted, Owens was part of an unsuccessful legal effort to stop its implementation before the deadline to file as candidates for this year's midterm elections. He said he originally planned to serve only one more term — "I was going to stay in as long as Trump was president" — so he decided to step down and let Utah's three younger representatives run in safe GOP districts.
"We have some very good, young people that will have a long, good career in representing us so that is really the most important thing," he said.
Owens was one of about a dozen speakers Friday, including several state lawmakers and candidates for office.
The event was headlined by Nick Shirley, a Farmington native who went viral at the end of last year with a video alleging fraud at several child care centers in Minnesota. His video has been viewed more than 142 million times on X alone and was amplified by conservative figures such as Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance.
Although subsequent reporting by the Minnesota Star Tribune and a state investigation raised questions about some of Shirley's allegations, the video served to mobilize many on the right and made Shirley a prominent figure in the world of conservative influencers.
'I know what addiction is like'
Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy, the state's newest representative in Washington, spoke after Owens at the event and revealed that he struggled with an addiction to pornography starting as a teenager.
"I was addicted, and I know what addiction is like," the congressman said. "I didn't get any good advice. Frankly, what I was told as a kid is, 'Well, that's just what boys do, and that's just OK for me to do that.' But I knew in my heart it was wrong, and I knew I needed to get a handle on that."
Kennedy said he continued to work on the issue in his early 20s, and a spokesman said he's been clean for over 30 years.
"I'll just say, I'm still addicted to that kind of stuff, but I'm recovering, a 30-year recovering addict of pornography, and I'm proud of that," he said to cheers from the crowd.
The congressman spoke to members of the audience who may have similar struggles and urged them to "get all the help you can."
"It's just you now, maybe, but in the future, you've got responsibilities that are going to make it so that you may be crushed under those difficulties that you're not going to deal with," he said.
Correction: A previous version misstated the timeline of Rep. Mike Kennedy's addiction. The congressman said he improved in his early 20s, and a spokesman said he has been clean for over 30 years.
