They're not obeying and respecting the law now though...and like all of the Ohio SC except one was Republican too. Much of this is political theater meant to show that they are trying to pushback and make it LOOK legitimate. Turn down the first and then accept the appeal argument.
Again, Utah is not Ohio. They did something similar with the institution of primaries instead of only caucuses. The Republican Party fought it for years and bitch about it constantly, but we do both because they exhausted their appeals. This may not be safe, but it's already been 4 years.
Utahn's as a whole have deep respect for the initiative process and the courts. It just sucks that it takes so long to win, but once an initiative wins, it is usually seen as a good thing. Ethics do actually matter. Just look at the last AG.