New State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tells Legislature to Not Make Judicial Elections Partisan

Newly minted state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cory Swanson had a blunt message for Montana legislators near the end of remarks delivered to a joint session of the Montana House and Senate Monday: Let the judicial branch do its job.

“We welcome legislation that addresses and resolves policy problems in the judiciary,” Swanson said near the end of his remarks. “But I urge you to reject legislation that will undermine the effective functioning of the judiciary, not because judges don’t like it, but because it will ultimately harm Montana citizens.”

Swanson, sworn in as the judicial branch’s top official in January, was one of several officials to address the Legislature Feb. 17, following three members of the state’s federal delegation and a tribal nation chairman. According to social media posts, Sen. Steve Daines was in Argentina, where he had met with Argentinian President Javier Milei.

Over much of 2024, a Republican-formed Senate select committee drafted more than two dozen pieces of legislation aimed at altering a judiciary they deemed problematic after seeing several high-profile bills championed by Republicans struck down by state courts as unconstitutional.

Though some of those proposals have been culled so far this legislative session, one of Republicans’ premier proposals — to make state district and Supreme Court judge elections partisan — is advancing through the GOP-controlled Capitol this session, clearing a Senate committee on a 6-3 vote this month. 

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte used his State of the State speech in January, before a similar gathering of lawmakers, to endorse the idea too. 

Speaking from the same rostrum in the House chamber Monday, Swanson, who was endorsed by Republican leaders in last year’s election, told lawmakers he disagrees.

“I have personally stated that the judiciary should remain nonpartisan, despite the almost irresistible pull of partisan spending and messaging in these campaigns,” Swanson said. “That is not based on a constitutional opinion, because I have not researched the issue and have not provided such an opinion. It’s based on my personal commitment to decide every case based upon the facts and law of that case, not based upon the party or affiliation of the litigants.”

Swanson also took time to ask lawmakers to fund judicial positions to handle growing caseloads, as well as ask for legislative support to keep mental health screenings from delaying criminal cases. He also advocated for the preservation of legislative records and said he would conduct a deep review of the judicial branch to find ways to save money and operate more efficiently.

But then he pivoted to what he called “the elephant and the donkey,” or a “higher than normal level of tension among our three branches.”

“As it happens, you are considering a number of bills that well-respected attorneys are telling you violate the constitutional separation of powers,” Swanson said. “I urge you to listen to those arguments because they are probably the same arguments you will hear in my courtroom if litigants challenge newly passed statutes. Again, there is no point in creating unnecessary and quite predictable conflicts between our branches.”

After the joint session, Sen. Barry Usher, a Yellowstone County Republican who was on the select committee that drafted many of the judiciary bills, said he thought Swanson’s position as chief justice obligated him to stand up for his branch of government.

THE DELEGATION’S REMARKS

Swanson’s comments came after state lawmakers heard from U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy and Reps. Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing, all Republicans. Fort Peck Tribes Chairman Justin Gray Hawk Sr. also spoke.

Sheehy won his seat in November by defeating three-term incumbent Democrat Jon Tester. He used part of his remarks to state lawmakers to say why he thought Tester lost.

“Instead of being called racists and fascists and quacks and science deniers, the American people said they were tired of the character assassination, the lawfare, the dehumanization that was hurled at all conservatives,” Sheehy said.

“Moms who wanted kids to go to school and not be kept out of school for lockdowns, dads who didn’t want boys in girls’ locker rooms. They were tired of being told they were racist for wanting secure borders, being told they were climate deniers for wanting cheap gas and fascists for wanting safe streets,” he continued, saying that rhetoric led to Tester’s defeat.

Three members of Montana’s American Indian Caucus left the chamber during Sheehy’s remarks. In his race against Tester, Sheehy made racist remarks about Crow tribal members being drunk at 8 a.m. and other tropes related to drinking and refused to issue an apology after a tribal news outlet published a recording of them.

Sheehy also voiced support for President Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” whose work has led to executive orders freezing grants and layoffs of federal workers. 

Zinke, who was Trump’s secretary of the interior and was re-elected this fall to Montana’s western House district, said he’s never seen a president move “so quickly on a variety of issues,” a line that was met with applause from Republican lawmakers in the chamber.

“If you want to know how to get something done, I invite you to Google the new Gulf of America,” Zinke said, referencing an executive order the president issued to change the name the U.S. government uses for the body of water between the U.S. and Mexico.

Zinke, who served in the state Legislature from 2009 to 2013, said he felt some issues, such as access to public lands or predictability in the energy market, could see bipartisan progress in D.C. He also applauded the Trump administration’s crusade against federal spending.

“What’s happening in D.C. is a shakeup and I agree with it, and some of you may not like Mr. [Elon] Musk or not and some of you may love him. I don’t know him very well,” Zinke said, saying he’s glad Musk is looking into “mismanagement” of federal grants.

 “And we may agree or disagree about if a certain project has merit,” Zinke continued. “Let’s have that disagreement. But there should be no disagreement that projects should be accountable, should be transparent.”

The Legislature’s Democratic leaders held a press conference later Monday where they said they were frustrated the delegation didn’t directly address the workers affected by federal job cuts. 

“This federal delegation that you heard from is completely out of touch,” said Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade. “You didn’t hear one mention of the impacts of the work that this administration was doing on Montanans.”

Downing, who was also elected last fall in Montana’s heavily Republican eastern district, used much of his speech to discuss efforts he’s making in Congress to look at duplicative regulation insurance. He also vowed to be accessible to his constituents. 

Gray Hawk said the state of tribal nations in Montana is strong, and that continued consultation between the state and tribes is critical. He also advocated for lawmakers to pass bills to fund law enforcement at the congressional level and back legislation to expand the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act and fund efforts to address missing and murdered Indigenous peoples (a bill to expand the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act was voted down in committee last week). Gray Hawk also said it was necessary to continue the state’s Medicaid expansion program.

This story originally appeared in the Montana Free Press, which can be found online at montanafreepress.org.