by Trevor Walter, Representative-elect, House District 69

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CI-132 adds one sentence to the Montana Constitution: “Judicial elections shall remain nonpartisan.” Supporters say it changes nothing. They’re right, and that’s the best reason to vote no.

Montana’s judicial races have been nonpartisan for roughly 90 years. State law already requires our ballots to be printed “without political designation.” Vote no, and on November 4, our judicial elections will be exactly as nonpartisan as they were the day before. What CI-132 does is lock that law into the Constitution, where it becomes far harder to change later.

So why do we care? Well, consider how much harder it is to know a judge than a legislator. You can check a legislator’s record in an afternoon: read the bill, see the roll call vote. A judge’s record is buried in legal opinions built on decades of prior case law. And many judicial candidates have no record at all, and ethics rules limit what they can say about how they’d rule.

For liberty-minded Montanans, that lack of transparency should concern you. Too often, we don’t learn what a judge believes until after the ruling takes effect. We hope judges take a nonpartisan, constitutional approach that benefits Montana, but that’s often not the case. Rob Natelson, a former University of Montana law professor, former gubernatorial candidate, and nationally recognized constitutional scholar, studied the Montana Supreme Court for the Montana Policy Institute. He concluded the court “remains far to the left.” The U.S. Supreme Court has had to reverse it on free speech and property rights in 2012, and on religious liberty in 2020.

With a record like that, Montanans may one day decide they want party labels on judicial ballots if our courts continue to swing further left. A no vote won’t change that today. It keeps the law where it is and leaves that decision open to future Montana voters and their legislators.

Vote no on CI-132. Keep it in statute. Keep it accountable.

Trevor Walter lives in Sheridan with his wife Kerry and is the Representative-elect for Montana House District 69.