Another Legal Opinion to Support District Split

None by KCPW

East Side Cities Reinforce AG's Earlier Analysis

(KCPW News) Five East side communities hoping to split from the Jordan School District have released their own legal opinion to support the move. It's the third such legal analysis and largely mirrors one issued by the Attorney General last month.

The mayors of Cottonwood Heights, Sandy, Midvale, Draper and Alta say the opinion should "put to rest" any debate over the possibility that allowing only people in the new smaller district to vote on the split violates the constitution.

The opinion issued by a BYU professor of constitutional law refutes an earlier legal analysis commissioned by the Jordan School District, which suggests the voting arrangement violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The coalition of East side cities hope this latest legal opinion will convince the Salt Lake County Council to put the split on November's ballot.

If they do, mayors on the West side say they will likely sue for the right to participate in the vote.

The County Council is not expected to make its decision until September.

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