Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

Montana Has a Supreme Problem!

Despite those provisions, we know they have been making law from the bench for years, which is malfeasance of office through their own admission. There are hundreds of examples of their admission written in their own dissenting opinions. Here are a few:

The Supreme Court of Montana expressed their clear understanding of the statutory role of a judge in City of Missoula v. Iosefo, 330 P. 3d 1180 (2014), wherein Justice Beth Baker admitted that when considering the construction of instruments, the Supreme Court of Montana was required to “Apply the plain language of the statute…; we cannot ‘insert what has been omitted.’ Section 1-2-101, MCA.”

Additionally, current Justice Jim Rice, in Bates v. Neva, 339 P. 3d 1265 (2014), complained in a dissenting opinion that the Supreme Court of Montana had “read into § 49-2-305, MCA, an expansive and altogether new application of the statute that the Legislature did not provide… [T]he Court’s interpretation distorts the plain wording of the statute.”

The problem is accountability. We elect our judges in Montana, but they are getting away with judicial activism by usurping the law and now threatening the people’s Attorney General. These usurpations add up over time and have a profound cumulative effect as the judiciary slowly takes the place of our representative government and imposes law by judicial fiat. This has to stop!

Senator David Howard