Overview

• The nomination moves to the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee, with review expected around the mid‑November interim meetings before a floor vote.
• Judge John Nielsen describes his judicial philosophy as textualist and originalist, positioning his approach squarely on statutory and constitutional text.
• Nielsen previously served in the Utah Attorney General’s Office, partnered at Schaerr Jaffe, taught at BYU and the University of Utah, and won unanimous Senate confirmation to the district bench last year.
• He withdrew from defending Utah’s 2022 ban on transgender girls in school sports after joining the bench, and plaintiffs dropped the lawsuit last week.
• The choice arrives as lawmakers dispute recent high court decisions and after a new law granted the governor power to select the court’s chief, subject to Senate confirmation.