Swanson, Lynch will vie for Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice position

The Montana Supreme Court in session (Photo by Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan).

A former federal magistrate judge and the current Broadwater County Attorney will square off for the highest judicial position in the State of Montana in the general election as they vie to replace outgoing Montana Chief Justice Mike McGrath, who is retiring from the state’s top and only appellate court.

Cory Swanson, from Broadwater County, was ahead in the three-way race with the most votes in the nonpartisan judicial race. As of 10:40 p.m., Swanson held a narrow lead over Jerry Lynch, with 44% to 40% advantage. Doug Marshall, an attorney from Carbon County, was pulling in 15% of the votes, making the race between Swanson and Lynch particularly tight for most of the night, but both Swanson and Lynch advance to the general as the top two vote-getters.

Lynch, an attorney from Butte, is a former federal magistrate judge and connected to a politically active family.

In the race for Justice 3 to replace outgoing associate justice Dirk Sandefur, two district court judges will compete for the position.

Katherine Bidegaray, a district court judge whose district includes Dawson, McCone, Prairie, Wibaux and Richland counties will face Dan Wilson, who is a sitting judge in Flathead County.

Both Bidegaray and Wilson bested former Columbia Falls lawmaker Jerry O’Neil, who filed on the final day of eligibility. O’Neil is notable because he was admitted to practice law in a Blackfeet Tribal Court, but has never passed the Montana Bar. He is a paralegal who said he was running for the high court in order to break the Montana Bar Association’s hold on the court system.

As of 10:40 p.m., Bidegaray maintained a commanding lead of nearly 30,000 votes over Wilson, capturing 53% of the overall votes. O’Neil had nearly 22,000 votes, good enough for about 15% of the total. Wilson had taken 31% of the vote with slightly more than 43,000 votes.

There are two open seats on the Montana Supreme Court in 2024, and the politics surrounding the court have been heated.

The role of Montana’s judiciary has been called into question by many Republican politicians from both the executive and legislative branches, which took a notable hard turn to the right with the 2020 election. The court has been a frequent of target of lawmakers’ ire as dozens of bills passed with overwhelming Republican support only to be struck down by the court because of constitutional problems.

Still, many supporters of the judiciary point out that legislative staff, attorneys and public testimony warned lawmakers that imposing certain laws, like repeated abortion restrictions, was likely to run afoul of both state and federal courts.

The charged political situation will likely continue regardless of the next justices elected to the high court as several of the high-profile cases are still at issue, including a landmark decision and appeal by the state in Held vs. State of Montana or the “youth climate trial.”

Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers have accused the justices of being out-of-step with Montana values and legislating from the bench. Senate President Jason Ellsworth, himself running to become Clerk of the Supreme Court, has formed two committees to investigate the state’s judiciary, with Democrats denouncing the first committee and refusing to participate in a second one.

Lawmakers have also called for a special session that would allow them to pass legislation that would convert the state’s nonpartisan Supreme Court elections into possible partisan contests. Supporters of the efforts say it will help give transparency to voters by letting them know more about the judicial candidates’ views. Meanwhile, opponents say it will inject more partisan rancor into the one branch of government that is required to be impartial.

The post Swanson, Lynch will vie for Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice position appeared first on Daily Montanan.