Montana Supreme Court blocks AG's rewrite of nonpartisan court elections measure [View all]

(CN) — Montana’s attorney general took too much liberty editing ballot language for an initiative pushing for nonpartisan court elections, according to a new ruling from the state Supreme Court.

Constitutional Initiative 132 would create a new section of the constitution to mandate that court elections stay free from political affiliations. The text would read: “Section 12. Nonpartisan Judicial Elections. Judicial elections shall remain nonpartisan.”

It was submitted by Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts with proposed ballot language stating that the initiative “amends the Montana Constitution to require that judicial elections remain nonpartisan.”

Attorney General Austin Knudsen revised the statement to instead say the initiative, if passed, “amends Article VII of the Montana Constitution to create a new Section 12 that mandates all judicial elections be nonpartisan. A nonpartisan election prohibits labeling candidates on the ballot according to the political party the candidate aligns with including labels like independent.”




https://www.courthousenews.com/montana-supreme-court-blocks-ags-rewrite-of-nonpartisan-court-elections-measure/