Category: Montana News
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Legislature will reform Montana courts
Senate Republicans have numerous pieces of legislation to consider during the 2025 session, but few are as important as bills to reform Montana’s overreaching courts. The state’s judicial branch has ventured into the realm of making laws instead of interpreting them, endangering the system of checks and balances at the heart of American politics, as…
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Do We Want More Partisan Politics?
Legislative gridlock. Party loyalty over practical solutions. Demonizing the opposition. We have witnessed many discouraging consequences of the hyper-partisanship that infects our political system today. Congress can’t pass a budget. Misinformation about disaster relief tied to political affiliation. Compromise considered a weakness. And the Montanan Senate has two bills before it that would inject more…
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Montana judicial reform bills working their way through 69th Legislature
HELENA — On Thursday, the Montana House and Senate voted on seven Republican-sponsored bills that would make changes to the state’s judicial branch and legal system. Six of them are moving forward, while the last fell just short of a majority. This is just the latest step in what’s likely to be a session-long debate…
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Manzella v. Marbury
There’s no question in Bruce Spencer’s mind that, in America, it’s the courts who get the last word on what laws are constitutional. It’s been that way for 222 years. But no matter how the lobbyist for the State Bar of Montana baited his argument for Republican lawmakers this week, he just couldn’t set the…
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Bill to Make Montana Judicial Elections Partisan Gets First Hearing
Senate Bill 42 would require candidates for Supreme Court, district court and justice of the peace to run with a party label A bill to require Montana’s judicial candidates to run with party labels is making its way through the state Legislature after a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning. …
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Flathead Republicans Figure Prominently as GOP Aims to Curb Judicial Power
A bill that would allow political parties to make contributions to judicial candidates — carried by Marion Republican Rep. Tom Millett — passed the House on Tuesday. It’s one of many GOP-backed bills designed to rein in the power of the state’s courts. As Montana’s 69th legislative session gets underway, Republican lawmakers are leading a charge…
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Montana Republicans launch into debate of 27 judicial reform bills
Republican lawmakers spent nine months of 2024 working on bills to reshape the judiciary. Democrats say the problem is GOP legislators passing unconstitutional laws. Frustrated by several unfavorable court rulings in recent years striking down laws they championed, Montana Republican legislators have teed up a bucket of judicial reform bills this session to reshape the…
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Suite of judicial reform bills being heard at Montana Legislature
Republican leaders in the Montana Legislature have made overhauling the state’s judiciary a major priority for the 2025 session. Republican leaders in the Montana Legislature have made overhauling the state’s judiciary a major priority for the 2025 session — and in his State of the State address Monday night, Gov. Greg Gianforte endorsed a proposal to make…
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Republican lawmakers release their proposed changes to the judiciary
A special committee of lawmakers that’s looked into the judicial branch over the last two years has concluded its work. They’re advancing 27 proposals to the state Legislature for consideration. Republicans on the committee say the goal of the bills is to curb what they call judicial overreach. Democrats have refused to participate in the committee, calling…
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Judicial oversight committee asks for 27 bills; Dems and Racicot call them attacks on judiciary
Committee’s final work includes bill aiming to outline separation of powers in statute Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform will have 27 bills ready for introduction in the 2025 legislative session that starts in January, several of which seek to move some power away from the judicial branch or make judicial elections partisan. The…