Uncategorized

READ THE FULL STORY FROM NBC MONTANA

HELENA, Mont. — Wednesday, the Montana Supreme Court denied the Montana Legislature’s motion to disqualify all justices from a case challenging lawmakers’ subpoena power.

This started last month, when the legislature issued subpoenas to all Supreme Court justices and the court administrator, after leaked emails allegedly showed the justices prejudging cases and expressing bias.

The administrator then challenged the legislature’s subpoena power in the Supreme Court.

State Sen. Greg Hertz (R-Polson), chair of the legislature’s investigative committee looking into the judiciary, said in a statement Wednesday, “The court is twisting itself in knots in this ruling.”

He added the Montana Supreme Court can’t keep its story straight and the legislature will continue its investigation.

READ THE FULL STORY FROM KTVH

HELENA — Legislative Republicans took more actions Tuesday to investigate the Montana Supreme Court and state judiciary for alleged bias – including the creation of a “special counsel” who can scrutinize “any … institution of state government.”

They also voted to extend and finance a legislative committee that will guide the investigation, for another two years.

And, the committee sent a pointed letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath, asking him to explain the high court’s role, if any, in lobbying by the judiciary on bills before the Legislature.

READ THE STORY FROM THE NATIONAL REVIEW

“The litigation has raised a judicial recusal issue on a scale that is truly exceptional. The first judge to recuse himself, shortly after the challenge was filed against Governor Greg Gianforte in court, was Chief Justice Mike McGrath, who had lobbied the governor and Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras against the bill. District Judge Kurt Krueger was designated to take McGrath’s place on the case.

But the perception of McGrath’s lack of objectivity was just the tip of the iceberg. As it turns out, on January 29, Beth McLaughlin, the Montana supreme court administrator, had sent emails to every supreme court and district court judge in the state requesting them to “review and take a position on” Senate Bill 140. McLaughlin’s email asked the judges to “use the voting buttons (accept/reject) on your toolbar” or to “just shoot me a note” if they could not find the voting button.

Thirty-seven judges responded to the poll — a majority of the state’s district court judges — and they opposed the bill by a margin of 34 to 3. Eighteen of the judges replied by email with their opinions as to the legislation, nearly all of them stating they opposed it. That number includes only those who sent their emails with a “reply-all” feature, which subjected it to being seen by every Montana judge. One of the replying judges was Kurt Krueger, who stated that he “adamantly oppose[d] this bill.” Governor Gianforte moved for Krueger’s disqualification, and the judge immediately recused himself.”

READ THE STORY FROM THE HELENA INDEPENDENT RECORD

“The Montana Supreme Court on Friday issued a unanimous order putting a temporary halt on the wave of legislative subpoenas calling for the court’s internal documents by Monday.”

“The unprecedented public clash between the two branches arose from the revelation of an internal judges’ poll conducted in January on Senate Bill 140, which eliminated the Judicial Nomination Commission and expanded the governor’s power to appoint judges in the case of vacancies. When Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law in March, a legal challenge to the law followed less than 24 hours later later. Filings in that case showed one of the district court judges to preside over the case had “adamantly opposed” the law when it was in the legislative process.”

READ THE STORY FROM KTVQ

“The Montana Supreme Court Friday blocked all subpoenas issued by the state Legislature in the past week, that are seeking internal documents from the court, and said it will rule later on whether the requests are valid.

The unanimous order puts the brakes on an escalating face-off between the high court and Republican leadership at the Legislature, as GOP leaders sought emails and other documents from the court and the judiciary to investigate whether the court has “pre-judged” legislation that may come before it.”

READ THE STORY FROM KTVH

“In an escalating political battle between Republican leadership at the Montana Legislature and the state’s judiciary, the Montana Supreme Court Sunday quashed a subpoena lawmakers had used to obtain a cache of internal e-mails from the judiciary.

In an unusual weekend order, the high court blocked any further release of the e-mails until it could rule on whether the legislative subpoena, issued late last week, is proper.”