Third District Court Judge Todd Shaughnessy faces a retention vote Nov. 3 on ballots across Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties. The nonpartisan question appears on the 2026 Utah General Election ballot.
Shaughnessy has served on the Third District Court since May 2011. The court handles civil and criminal cases in the three-county district, which includes Cottonwood Heights and Holladay. In a retention race, voters answer yes or no on whether to keep a sitting judge.
Candidate information
- Name: Todd Shaughnessy
- Office: Utah District Court Judge, District 3
- Appointed: May 2011 by Governor Gary Herbert
- Education: Juris doctor from the University of Utah, where he served as managing editor of the Utah Law Review, according to a 2020 evaluation by the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission
Experience and public service
Shaughnessy clerked at the Utah Supreme Court before joining the bench, according to the 2020 evaluation report. He worked as an associate at Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy, according to the same report, and later as a partner at Snell & Wilmer, according to BallotReady.
He is a member of the Utah Judicial Council, the governing body for Utah's judiciary, and a member of the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission, according to the Utah Courts website. He is a past president of the Salt Lake County Bar Association and a fellow in the American Bar Foundation, according to the 2020 evaluation report.
Shaughnessy is a Master of the Bench in the David K. Watkiss Sutherland Inn of Court, according to the same report.
Performance evaluations
The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission voted 12-0 to recommend Shaughnessy for retention in 2020. He passed all eight performance standards. Ninety-six percent of survey respondents recommended him for retention, according to the commission's evaluation report.
The bar honored him repeatedly. Shaughnessy received the Judicial Excellence Award from the Utah State Bar's Litigation Section in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the same report.
This profile was built from publicly available records, including the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission's 2020 retention report, the Utah Courts judicial biography page and BallotReady election data. The election is Nov. 3, 2026.
