By:Keila Szpaller | Daily Montanan
A prominent think tank is promoting the chance state residents have on the 2030 ballot to hold a state Constitutional Convention, and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte will headline the policy dinner where Mountain States Policy Center will feature the possible rewrite of the state’s foundational document.
The event on Feb. 24 will feature a speech by Gianforte, include the center’s recommendations for the 2027 Montana Legislature, and showcase the center’s series about a possible Constitutional Convention.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office said Gianforte’s remarks will cover only his tax policy priorities for the 2027 legislative session and are not related to the Constitutional Convention.
Focused on Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, the Mountain States Policy Center describes itself as a policy-focused research group that promotes free enterprise, limited government and individual liberty.
Chris Cargill, executive director of the center, said this week the center hopes to bring in new members with the event, although it isn’t a fundraiser.
He said the center has studied what a Constitutional Convention might look like and is doing legwork and publishing a series of articles about the Montana Constitution in advance of the possibility.
In the series, the center’s senior fellow and constitutional scholar Rob Natelson is advocating that Montanans vote for a new convention. Natelson is a former faculty member at the University of Montana law school.
The Montana Constitution is relatively young, adopted in 1972. The state has a provision that allows voters to consider holding a new Constitutional Convention every 20 years. The next question could be on the 2030 ballot.
Montana code states that “unless otherwise submitted earlier,” the Secretary of State will put the question of a Constitutional Convention on the general election ballot in 1990 and then every 20 years from the last time.
“That’s very unique compared to a lot of the other states that don’t necessarily have that ability,” Cargill said.
Tuesday, Natelson said his interest in the Montana Constitution came out of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club visit to Missoula in 2000.
Out of concern about the motorcycle gang, the city brought in extra law enforcement, and Natelson said the Hell’s Angels behaved well, but riots broke out between the city’s “imported police officers” and residents.
Article II Section 33 of the Montana Constitution prohibits the “importation of armed persons,” and Natelson started studying whether the city had violated the state Constitution; he determined it had, contrary to a finding by a city-appointed review committee.
That project led to his interest in the state Constitution in general and its ratification, said Natelson, now based in Colorado.
In the course of his research over the years, Natelson said he became disappointed in both the criticism and praise of the Constitution, which he said “tended to be all or nothing.”
“The critics thought the Constitution was the creation of the devil, and advocates seemed to think the Constitution was holy writ,” Natelson said. “And the answer is it’s neither.
“This is going to sound horrible, but it’s a fairly unremarkable state Constitution that needs some changes.”
His assessment isn’t the only one, of course. Friends of the Constitution, a group that formed in 2022 after the 50th anniversary of the state Constitution to inspire appreciation for the document, describe it as exceptional.
“Montana’s 1972 Constitution is unique in that it empowers Montana citizens with the most tools and responsibilities of any constitution in the country,” the Friends group says on its website.
Natelson, however, said one problem is the materials used to push ratification of the 1972 Constitution didn’t always accurately represent it, and “the most salient example involves the environmental rights.”
The Constitution says the state shall provide for a “clean and healthful environment,” but during ratification, advocates said the provision was directed only at the legislature, and it was not for the courts to determine, Natelson said.
Since then, he said, the Montana Supreme Court has “seized jurisdiction over the environmental clauses” and has been imposing its version of the wording.
“I think it’s fair to say if people could look ahead as to what happened with the environmental rights, they never would have ratified the Constitution,” Natelson said.
Mountain States Policy Center has been publishing Natelson’s series, including the most recent one Tuesday about water. In an earlier post, Natelson said the following:
The constitution’s preamble is a beautiful statement consistent with America’s founding creed: “We the people of Montana . . . to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution.” But as we go further into the document, we find blemishes. For example, Article II, Section 1 correctly states that “All political power is . . . derived from the people,” but then avers that “government . . . is instituted solely for the good of (the) whole,” rather than to protect individual rights.
In 1990, Montanans opposed the idea of holding a Constitutional Convention with 82% of the vote, and in 2010, they did the same, but with 58.5%.
State statute says that if a majority of those voting on the question “answer in the affirmative, the legislature shall provide for the calling of a constitutional convention at its next session.”
Natelson said it’s too early to tell if Montanans would support a new Constitutional Convention, but he believes it’s possible.
In 2010, he said, no campaign was pushing for one, yet the number of people in support still rose.
“I would not be writing the series if I did not think there was a chance that they would,” Natelson said.
Natelson also was a featured speaker at this weekend’s Montana GOP Winter Kickoff in Great Falls. (He said his participation in the policy dinner is pending, but if he attends, he anticipates he’ll be asked to speak.)
Preamble to Montana Constitution
“We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution.”
In recent years, many Republicans have been displeased with the judiciary and its orders overturning conservative legislation as being unconstitutional.
(Gianforte has been among them, although the spokesperson from his office did not address whether he supports a new Constitutional Convention.)
In 2021, then-Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, used strong language to advocate that Montanans get rid of the state Constitution.
“The courts have humongously failed, and we need to throw out Montana’s socialist rag of a constitution,” Skees said in a Flathead Beacon story in 2021.
Skees was referring to a court injunction that stopped bills restricting abortion based on the Constitutional right to privacy in Montana.
However, Evan Barrett, with Friends of the Montana Constitution, said polling by a number of different organizations shows strong support for the document across political parties — albeit in general, not tied to a specific issue.
He said that’s because Montanans know the state Constitution protects them when it comes to privacy, the right to vote, their rights when it comes to standing trial, and more.
“It’s written to protect the citizens from the excesses of government,” Barrett said. “So it has an appeal to people of all political persuasions.”
Barrett said the Friends of the Constitution group opposes a Constitutional Convention. Rather, he said, if someone has a problem with the Constitution, they can take on an amendment.
“We’re one of the few states that has an initiative process for our Constitution,” Barrett said. “So we have no shortage of efforts at amending the Constitution.”
He said Natelson has pointed out that most of those efforts are defeated, and he believes that’s part of the process too — “then they didn’t deserve to be supported.”
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