On Nov. 3, Montanans will pick a new justice for the state Supreme Court — the court with the final say on whether we continue to enjoy the public-participation and clean-environment promises written into Montana’s Constitution.
We’ll choose between fair and impartial Justice Amy Eddy and party-machine-backed Dan Wilson, who’s made politics a central part of his campaign.
The race is unfolding against a backdrop no Montanan should overlook. In March 2025, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB 39, repealing the longstanding ban on political parties writing checks directly to judicial candidates. The Montana Bar Association opposed the bill.
This is the first Supreme Court election under the new rules, after nearly a century of nonpartisan judicial elections that generations of Montanans built to keep the bench out of party control. That ban ensured our justices were not indebted to parties, party bosses, or special interests. They kept politics out of the courtroom and served the people of Montana.
Now that impartiality is threatened, the two candidates have taken wildly different positions on taking money from the political establishment.
Eddy has said she will not accept a dollar from any political party — making her the only impartial candidate in the race. Asked about the new law, she was direct. “I do not believe that courts should be held captive by a political party,” she said. “I don’t believe that a judge should be expected to advance a partisan political agenda. I think that undermines the public’s confidence in the judiciary.”
Wilson has made politics a keystone of his candidacy. In April, he accepted a $20,000 donation from the Montana Republican Party, and has taken another $19,000 from county-level Republican committees. He headlined the party’s election kickoff in Great Falls. And the party formally endorsed him — the first time it has ever endorsed a judicial candidate.
Every judicial candidate attracts supporters who are active in politics. That’s citizenship, and it’s nothing new. What is new is a candidate accepting a party’s money, its first-ever endorsement, and its stage. That ties a judge to a platform.
Eddy grew up in Stanley, Idaho, a town of 70 year-round residents at the headwaters of the Salmon River. As a kid, she cross-country skied to the bus stop, then later went to law school in Missoula. She’s served on the 11th Judicial District Court since 2015, ruling on more than 10,000 cases.
Montana’s Constitution guarantees us the right to a clean and healthful environment for present and future generations, and it is the foundation of Montana’s stream access law. Those rights stay effective only if the Supreme Court keeps reading them that way.
Eddy is crystal clear on where she stands: that right, she says, is not a policy preference but something fundamental that belongs to the people.
If you care about judicial impartiality, public access, and clean air and water, there’s only one choice: Vote Amy Eddy.
Patti Steinmuller lives in Bozeman.