The upcoming general election will take place on Tuesday, November 8 with candidates for the US House of Representatives, US Supreme Court, and MT Congress on the ballot. There will also be two ballot initiatives LR-131 and CA-48. Absentee Ballots get mailed out on October 14.
Check your voting information here: https://app.mt.gov/voterinfo/. If you are not registered to vote, need to update your address, or request an absentee ballot you can do so in person at the Yellowstone County Courthouse.
What the heck is a MT Supreme Court Justice?
The Montana Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the state of Montana. The Montana Supreme Court consists of seven judges, with one Chief Justice, and six Associate Justices. They serve terms of 8 years, are elected, and must be licensed to practice law in Montana for at least five years.
The Montana Supreme Court serves as an appellate court, meaning they decide cases that come from Montana’s lower district courts that have been decided on previously by a lower state judge. To appeal a case the defendant “accused” has decided that their previous ruling was wrong, unconstitutional or unfair.
The Montana Supreme Court has the power to order the state to abide by their rulings. The Montana Supreme Court also has the ultimate power to interpret our state constitution to ensure our rights are not encroached on.
The Supreme Court decides the majority of their decisions based on written briefs or arguments submitted to the Court. If there is further need for exploration of an issue the Appellant (folks who brought the case) and Appellee (folks wanting to uphold the previous decision) have a chance to present oral arguments in front of the Court. All oral arguments are heard in the Montana Supreme Court Courtroom in Helena, and are open to the public.
All of the Montana Supreme Court’s previous decisions are public record and can be found on their website: https://courts.mt.gov/courts/supreme/.
Candidates:
Jim Rice (Incumbent) http://www.jimriceforjustice.com/
Bill D’Alton https://www.billformontanasupremecourt.com/
Ingrid Gustafason (Incumbent) https://www.gustafsonformontana.com/
James Brown https://www.jamesbrownformontana.com/