Montana GOP wants to overhaul state judicial system
Republican lawmakers in Montana are proposing notable changes to the state’s judicial system in response to recent court rulings that they perceive as unfavorable, particularly concerning laws related to abortion and transgender issues.Frustrated by what they believe to be a liberal bias in the Montana Supreme Court and other lower courts, GOP leaders, including Senate majority Leader tom McGillvray, plan to introduce around 30 bills aimed at reforming the judiciary. This includes transitioning judicial elections from nonpartisan to partisan and establishing a new court specifically for constitutional claims, with judges appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
These efforts highlight deep-seated concerns among Republicans about the judiciary’s independence and it’s alignment with their legislative agenda. However, some former Republican officials warn against these drastic changes, suggesting they could undermine respect for the judicial system and politicize the selection of judges. the push for judicial reform in Montana reflects wider national trends where conservative lawmakers in various states are challenging judicial decisions they view as conflicting with their interests.
Montana GOP wants to overhaul judicial system after handful of conservative bills thrown out
Republican state lawmakers in Montana have grown frustrated by several unfavorable rulings being handed to them in recent years, so they are looking to entirely rethink the state’s judicial system.
While judicial elections and the courts in Montana are nonpartisan, Republicans in the state believe that the Montana Supreme Court and other lower courts lean liberal.
“The Montana Supreme Court is one of the most liberal courts in the nation, so you have to wonder as a legislator, are the courts being biased?” state Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray said. “You’ve got a de facto executive branch in the judicial branch, and that’s precipitated a lot of angst.”
The state’s judicial elections have been nonpartisan since 1935, but these changes would make them partisan races. Another bill would create an entirely new court to rule on constitutional claims, and those judges would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Montana Senate.
These are some of the 30 bills the Montana legislature is considering aimed at reshaping the state judiciary.
“After today, our message to the judiciary is simply this: Buckle up,” incoming Senate President Matt Regier and incoming House Speaker Brandon Ler said in December 2024.
In recent years, Montana has seen a number of GOP-backed laws thrown out by the courts, notably on abortion- and transgender-related issues.
The first bill that will see a floor hearing is House Bill 39, which would remove a financial barrier between judicial candidates and political parties as judicial candidates are currently barred from accepting money from political parties.
Nearly all judges in Montana are elected, not appointed, and they are not required to provide a party affiliation, so it is difficult to measure their political leanings. Democratic lawmakers, who are in the minority in the statehouse, have defended the courts and judges.
Similar measures have popped up in other states. Kansas Republicans have grown frustrated with their judicial system after a court ruling that affirmed abortion rights in the state, so they approved a ballot question for August 2026 that asked voters to amend the state constitution and to allow Kansas Supreme Court justices to be elected, not chosen by their long-standing merit-based system.
In no other state, however, has there been the volume of bills like Montana.
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Some former Republican officials in the state have sounded the alarm on the push. Marc Racicot, the state’s former Republican governor and attorney general called the push “very shortsighted and very immature.”
“It’s just that damn dangerous, in my view,” Racicot told the New York Times. “If you don’t have a healthy respect for the system, then you’re going to end up cavalierly questioning everything dangerously. They want to take over control of the bar association, the discipline of lawyers, the selection of judges — they want to infuse politics.”
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