Attorney general’s edits to ballot initiative went too far, Montana Supreme Court rules
Montana’s attorney general went too far in revising the language for a proposed ballot initiative calling for nonpartisan court races, the state’s high court ruled Thursday.
For the second time in a month, Montana Supreme Court justices ruled that Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, needlessly amended initiative ballot language pertaining to the state’s nonpartisan judicial elections.
At issue is the second of two proposed ballot initiatives aimed at keeping political party affiliation out of Montana judicial races. The effort follows failed attempts by Republicans in the state Legislature to pass laws allowing judicial candidates to declare a political party.
In the case of Constitutional Initiative 131, proposed by Montanans for Fair and Impartial Judges, the justices faulted Knudsen for not offering a reason for changing the ballot language.
“The issue is not whether the attorney general correctly concluded MFIJ’s proposed Statement failed to meet the requirements,” the justices ruled, “but whether the attorney general made that conclusion at all.”
Explaining the decision to change the ballot language, Knudsen’s staff in court argued that he rewrote that statement to improve and better explain it. That’s not the AG’s job, according to the court. If the petitioners’ ballot language is clear and impartial, justices said the language should be left alone.
“CI-131 proposes a three-word amendment to the Montana Constitution, specifying that ‘Supreme Court justices and district court judges shall be elected in nonpartisan elections,’” the justices’ unanimous order read.
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The attorney general amended the ballot language with his own interpretation of what a nonpartisan ballot means to voters: “A non-partisan election prohibits labeling candidates on the ballot according to the political party the candidate aligns with, including labels like independent.”
Petitioners balked at Knudsen’s amendment, arguing that it suggests judicial candidates are hiding a partisan affiliation. The attorney general added similar language to another petition, CI-132, which also attempts to secure nonpartisan elections within state law. Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts proposed CI-132. The state Supreme Court decided in November that language added to that initiative by Knudsen would “mislead voters and prevent them from casting an intelligent and informed ballot.”
In its ruling Thursday on CI-131, the court issued new ballot language for CI-131: “This constitutional initiative would require that Montana Supreme Court and district court elections remain nonpartisan. Since 1935, state law has required that these elections be held without political party affiliation. This amendment would add that rule to the Montana Constitution, so it could only be changed by another constitutional amendment approved by voters.”
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This story was originally published by the Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.