Montana Supreme Court

From Judgepedia

The Montana Supreme Court is the highest court in Montana. The Montana Supreme Court meets in the Justice Building in Helena, Montana, the state's capital, in an international style building completed in 1982.

Jurisdiction

The Montana Supreme Court has original jurisdiction only over the extraordinary writs, which include habeas corpus, injunction, review, mandate, quo warranto, and supervisory control. This jurisdiction is concurrent with the Montana District Courts.

Case load

In 2006, there were 760 total new case filings.^[1]

The court's justices

The Montana Supreme Court presently consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.^[2] The Montana Constitution provides for only four Associate Justices, but allows the Montana Legislature to increase the number of Associate Justices to six.^[3]

Selection of justices

For the seven justices on the court, each justice serves eight-year terms. If a vacancy occurs, the governor makes a temporary appointment, and the Judicial Nominating Commission gathers three to five potential justices and submits these names to the governor. It is then the governor's responsibility to choose one to appoint. If he fails to do so within thirty days, the Chief Justice makes the choice. The appointment must be confirmed by the state senate; the appointed justice may serve the remainder of the term, but then must go to general election. To remove a Montana judge, he or she may be impeached by the legislature, or may be removed on recommendation of the judicial standards commission.^[4]

Qualifications

To be a qualified candidate for the Montana Supreme Court, a person must be a citizen of the United States as well as the state for no less than two years, must be admitted to practice law in the state for no less than five years, and must reside in Montana during their term.^[5]

Current members

See also: Montana judicial elections, 2010

Two seats on the Supreme Court are up for election in 2010. William Leaphart is retiring and Michael E. Wheat was appointed to his seat in 2010, and must run for election if he wishes to keep it.

Montana Supreme Court justices reach their seat via election. In the case of a mid-term vacancy, the Governor may appoint an interim judge, who must run in the election following their appointment if they wish to retain their seat. Three out of the seven current justices first gained their seats via appointment.

Chief justice

As administrative head of the court, the Chief Justice presides over the court during hearings, and is considered the representative of the court at official state functions. The position of Chief Justice is determined with the general election. After then-Chief Justice Karla Gray announced her retirement in April 2007, Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath ran for the seat against Ron Waterman in November 2008. McGrath defeated Waterman and is the current Chief Justice of the court. See Montana Supreme Court elections for more details.

The table below represents the history of chief justices in the Montana Supreme Court.

Notable decisions

• State v. 1993 Chevrolet Pickup, 116 Pacific Reporter P.3d 800 (Mont. 2005). The court ruled 6-2 that a warrantless search and seizure of a man's trash did not violate his constitutional rights. Justice James C. Nelson's reluctant concurrence, which he based purely on existing court precedent, received significant attention for his dire warnings about the erosion of civil liberties. His opinion described the amount of personal information contained in trash, such as DNA, and the invasions of privacy he saw becoming more common in other areas of life. "I don't like living in Orwell's 1984; but I do." He warned that "eventually, we are all going to become collateral damage in the war on drugs, or terrorism, or whatever war is in vogue at the moment."

• Columbia Falls Elem. Sch. Dist. No. 6 v. State, 109 P.3d 257 (Mont. 2005). The court unanimously ruled that the state's public school system violated the Montana Constitution's requirement for the Legislature to fund and establish free schooling so as to provide students with a "quality" education.

• Big Spring v. Jore, 109 P.3d 219 (Mont. 2005). The court ruled 6-1 that seven double-punched ballots in an extremely close election for a seat in the Montana House of Representatives should not have been counted, because ballots were only valid under state law if the voter's intent could be clearly determined. The invalidation of those seven votes gave the election to Democrat Jeanne Windham, whose win gave the Democrats the one seat they needed to have a majority in the Montana House. Had the trial court's counting of those votes been upheld, her opponent, Rick Jore, would have been the first Constitution Party candidate to have won an election at the state level.

• Snetsinger v. Mont. Univ. Sys., 104 P.3d 445 (Mont. 2004). The court ruled 5-3 that the ineligibility of gay and lesbian employees of the University of Montana for domestic partner benefits violated their right to equal protection under the Montana Constitution.

History of the court

Montana Territorial Supreme Court

In 1864, the United States Congress granted Montana as a territory. With this Organic Act, the Territorial Supreme Court was created with one Chief Justice and two Associate Justices. The court's members for the territory were chosen by President Lincoln in the same year.^[6] The territory was divided into three judicial districts, one district for each justice. In 1886, a fourth justice was added to the court. The last session of the Territorial Supreme Court was on October 5, 1889, as Montana was brought into the Union as a state on November 8 of the same year.

Montana Supreme Court

The 1889 Montana Constitution created the Supreme Court of the state in Article VIII. The three members were to be elected to six-year terms in partisan elections. This remained the case until 1909 when the state legislature created the "Nonpartisan Judiciary Act." Rather than running in partisan elections, this act required that candidates to the court be "nominated by citizen petition"--this resulted in a very low voter turnout in the next general election in 1910. As a result, the law was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in 1911, as "it failed to provide any means for nominating candidates to newly created judgeships."^[7] The concept of nonpartisan elections was reintroduced as law in 1935; the legislature "prohibited political parties from endorsing, contributing to, or making expenditures in support of or opposition to judicial candidates." The number on the court increased over time; in 1919, the court increased from three justices to five, and in 1979, the court was increased again by two to a total of seven justices. Additionally, in a 1972 amendment to the state constitution, the term of office was increased by two years to eight.

Montana Supreme Court elections

Main article: Montana Supreme Court elections

Montana Supreme Court election 2009

Justice John Warner has announced that he will retire from the court effective December 31, 2009. Attorneys Karen Powell and Ron Waterman have announced their intentions to run for the seat.

Montana Supreme Court election 2008

Main article: Montana Supreme Court elections

One Montana Supreme Court seat was open and another was up for re-election in the 2008 general election. Mike McGrath and Ron Waterman ran for Chief Justice of the court, in the seat vacated by retiring Chief Justice Karla M. Gray.^[8] Patricia O'Brien Cotter's seat was also up for re-election in 2008, but with no opponents, it was a retention election. On November 4, Attorney General Mike McGrath defeated Helena lawyer Ron Waterman by a count of 75% to 25%. ^[9]

Supervision of the courts

As enumerated in the Montana Constitution, the court has administrative authority over the court system. Additionally, it regulates judicial groups. ^[10]

Boards and commissions

To assist in the supervisory role, the court appoints members to 20 boards and commissions. The list of these is below.

Procedures

Appeals from inferior courts

Appeals to the Montana Supreme Court are "appeals of right," meaning that the court does not have discretion as to whether it accepts review of the lower court's decision. Appeals are taken from both civil and criminal matters by a party filing a notice of appeal in the District Court that issued the order or judgment from which the appeal is sought.^[11] Contempt orders are not appealable, and so can only be reviewed on application for a writ of review.^[12] Criminal defendants may appeal only from final judgments of convictions, and other orders after judgment that affect substantive rights.^[13] On review of criminal matters, the Montana Supreme Court may reverse, affirm, or modify the lower court's judgment; set aside, affirm, or modify any proceedings subsequent to the judgment from which the appeal is taken; reduce the offense of which the defendant was convicted to a lesser included offense; reduce the punishment imposed by the lower court; or order a new trial.^[14]

Applications for original writs

Applications for original writs are filed directly with the Montana Supreme Court. The court may then order that a summary response from opposing parties be filed immediately, or may dismiss the application at its next conference without such an order. If a summary response is ordered, the court considers the filings at its next conference. The court will subsequently dismiss the application, accept jurisdiction, order more extensive briefing on any issue raised in the application or response, order oral argument in extraordinary cases, or issue any other writ or order deemed appropriate in the circumstances. Pending its disposition of the application for the writ, the court may stay a lower court's proceedings, on motion by a party for good cause shown, or sua sponte. Individual justices may issue writs of habeas corpus on behalf of anyone held in custody for return to themselves, the full Supreme Court, or the District Courts. Individual justices may also issue writs of certiorari to review judgments of contempt.

Conference and argument

The Montana Supreme Court has promulgated Internal Operating Rules for its internal governance. The justices meet in conference twice a week to discuss pending matters. Its Tuesday conferences considers pending petitions for original jurisdiction, and matters that should be considered by the full court. Its Thursday conferences consider proposed opinions, petitions for rehearing, and appeal classifications. The court’s annual calendar was previously divided into four terms, but legislation effective January 6, 2006 changed this to one term, beginning on January 1 of each year. The Chief Justice may also call a special term at any time. Oral arguments are held before the court every month of the year except July and August.^[15] A majority of the court is required for quorum, and a majority of the court must concur in all decisions.^[16] If a justice is disqualified or otherwise unable to participate in a case, a District Court judge is substituted, and their opinion is given the same weight in that case as a sitting justice.^[17]

Written decisions

By statute, all decisions of the Montana Supreme Court must be in writing, and must set forth the grounds of the decision.^[18] However, it is up to the court to decide whether an unelaborated order or a full opinion is appropriate.^[19] If a full opinion is to be issued, its drafting is assigned to a justice during conference. The court attempts to hand down its decision within 120 days of when the case is submitted. All justices must indicate their concurrence in the opinion by signing it, and all justices disagreeing with the majority's decision must indicate this in a written dissent.^[20]

Citations and case reporters

Opinions of the Montana Supreme Court are assigned a "public domain" or "neutral-format" case citation, which consists of the year of decision, the state’s postal abbreviation, and finally a sequential number; the court’s sixth decision handed down during 2006, for example, would have the citation 2006 MT 6. The Montana Reports, published by State Reporter Publishing Company, is the official case reporter of Montana Supreme Court opinions. Its opinions are also included in the regional Pacific Reporter published by West Group. When citing to its previous decisions, the Montana Supreme Court cites to both print reporters as well as the neutral-format citation.

Other court personnel

The Clerk of the Supreme Court is chosen by popular election for six year terms. The Clerk has the following duties by statute:

(a) keep the seal of the supreme court, its records and files, and the roll of attorneys and counselors at law;

(b) adjourn the court from day to day at the beginning of any term in the absence of any justice and until the arrival of a majority of the justices;

(c) file all papers or transcripts required by law to be filed;

(d) issue writs and certificates and approve bonds or undertakings when required;

(e) make out all transcripts to the supreme court of the United States;

(f) make copies of papers or records when demanded by law or the rules of the court; and

(g) perform other duties as may be required by law and the rules and practice of the supreme court.

The Marshall of the Supreme Court is appointed by the court, and is an employee of the judicial branch.^[21] The Marshall generally attends upon the Supreme Court during each term, and acts as a law clerk, executive officer, and court crier. He has the duty of serving all processes from the court within the state, and acts with the powers and duties of a sheriff to the District Courts when necessary.^[22]

External links

Wikipedia has an article on

Montana Supreme Court

• Montana Supreme Court Official Site
• Decisions of the Montana Supreme Court since 1997
• History of the Montana Judicial Branch
• 1989-2005 Annual Reports of the Montana Judicial System; these include statistics for the caseload of the Montana Supreme Court as well as the District Courts, as well as the address of the Chief Justice to the joint session of the Montana Legislature, a history of the court and overview of its functions and procedures, and lists and profiles of the justices.
• Chief Justices of Montana
• Montana Supreme Court order regarding citation formats

References

Portions of this article have been taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Copyright Notice can be found here.

The Montana Project on Judgepedia

Supreme Court Federal district for Montana Federal court of appeal