Montana Supreme Court elections, 2022
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Two seats on the Montana Supreme Court were up for nonpartisan election on November 8, 2022. Justices Ingrid Gustafson and James Rice both ran for and won re-election. Their new terms will expire on December 31, 2030.
Montana Public Radio's Shaylee Ragar wrote that the election for these seats could have impacted abortion policy in the state. "Montana Republicans are zeroed in on the races for two state Supreme Court seats this election cycle which could decide the future of access to abortion in Montana," she wrote. In 1999, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that the state's constitutional right to privacy protected access to abortion.[1] Rice was part of a five-justice panel that ruled unanimously in August 2022 to block abortion laws while a case between Planned Parenthood of Montana and the state proceeded.[2]
Gustafson defeated Montana Public Service Commissioner James Brown 54.3 percent to 45.7 percent. While Gustafson did not publicly comment on abortion or participate in the August 2022 ruling, outside groups affiliated with the Democratic Party raised money for Gustafson and encouraged voters to elect her to support legal access to abortion. Gov. Greg Gianforte (R), Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R) endorsed Brown.[3] Brown criticized the court for what he called "legislating from the bench" and called the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson a "major decision for liberty."[4] Gustafson was first appointed to the court in 2017 by Gov. Steve Bullock (D).
Rice defeated attorney Bill D'Alton 77.7 percent to 22.3 percent. Rice ran on his record, telling Montana Public Radio, "I believe I have that reputation for listening to all sides, being very careful about the law's application and exercising the powers of the court." D'Alton said he chose to run against Rice after seeing that the incumbent was unopposed. "I believe there should be competition in elections. I think that's good and healthy for the people of Montana to have a choice," he said.[5] Rice was first appointed to the court in 2001 by Gov. Judy Martz (R).
Montana was one of 30 states that held elections for state supreme court in 2022. That year, 84 of the 344 seats on state supreme courts were up for election. Of those, 64 were held by nonpartisan justices, 13 were held by Republican justices, and eight were held by Democratic justices. For more on the partisan affiliation of state supreme court justices, click here. For an overview of state supreme court elections in 2022, click here.
Candidates and election results
Rice's seat
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent James A. Rice defeated Bill D'Alton in the general election for Montana Supreme Court on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | James A. Rice (Nonpartisan) | 77.5 | 307,270 |
 | Bill D'Alton (Nonpartisan)  | 22.5 | 89,008 | |
| Total votes: 396,278 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent James A. Rice and Bill D'Alton advanced from the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | James A. Rice (Nonpartisan) | 76.2 | 189,101 |
| ✔ | | Bill D'Alton (Nonpartisan) | 23.8 | 59,168 |
| Total votes: 248,269 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Gustafson's seat
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Ingrid Gayle Gustafson defeated James Brown in the general election for Montana Supreme Court on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ingrid Gayle Gustafson (Nonpartisan) | 54.3 | 239,219 |
 | James Brown (Nonpartisan) | 45.7 | 201,159 | |
| Total votes: 440,378 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Ingrid Gayle Gustafson and James Brown defeated Mike McMahon in the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ingrid Gayle Gustafson (Nonpartisan) | 48.1 | 126,423 |
| ✔ | | James Brown (Nonpartisan) | 36.4 | 95,607 |
 | Mike McMahon (Nonpartisan) | 15.5 | 40,872 | |
| Total votes: 262,902 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Montana
About the Montana Supreme Court
- See also: Montana Supreme Court
The Montana Supreme Court is the court of last resort in Montana. The court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice who are elected to eight-year terms. The supreme court has appellate and original jurisdiction, and since there is no intermediate appellate court in the state, the supreme court receives appeals directly from the district courts, water court, and workers' compensation court.[6][7]
Political composition
This was the political composition of the supreme court heading into the 2022 election.
| ■ Beth Baker | Elected in 2010 and 2018 | |
| ■ Ingrid Gustafson | Appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock (D) in 2017; elected in 2018 | |
| ■ Mike McGrath | Elected in 2008 and 2016 | |
| ■ Laurie McKinnon | Elected in 2012 and 2020 | |
| ■ James Rice | Appointed by Gov. Judy Martz (R) in 2001; elected in 2014 | |
| ■ Dirk M. Sandefur | Elected in 2016 | |
| ■ Jim Shea | Appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock (D) in 2014; elected in 2016 and 2020 |
Selection
- See also: Nonpartisan elections
The seven justices of the Montana Supreme Court are selected in nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. When their term expires, they must run for re-election (or retention if they are unopposed) if they wish to continue serving.[8] In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor is responsible for appointing a new judge from a list compiled by the Montana Judicial Nominating Commission. Once confirmed by the Montana Senate, the judge holds office until the next general election, when he or she will be able to run for re-election to complete the remainder of the unexpired term.[8][9]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.[8]
Selection of the chief justice
The court's chief justice is chosen by popular vote during the regular campaign cycle. He or she serves in that capacity for a full eight-year term.[8]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters (2021)
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters, a study on how state supreme court justices decided the cases that came before them. Our goal was to determine which justices ruled together most often, which frequently dissented, and which courts featured the most unanimous or contentious decisions.
The study tracked the position taken by each state supreme court justice in every case they decided in 2020, then tallied the number of times the justices on the court ruled together. We identified the following types of justices:
- We considered two justices opinion partners if they frequently concurred or dissented together throughout the year.
- We considered justices a dissenting minority if they frequently opposed decisions together as a -1 minority.
- We considered a group of justices a determining majority if they frequently determined cases by a +1 majority throughout the year.
- We considered a justice a lone dissenter if he or she frequently dissented alone in cases throughout the year.
Summary of cases decided in 2020
- Number of justices: 7
- Number of cases: 323
- Percentage of cases with a unanimous ruling: 89.5% (289)
- Justice most often writing the majority opinion: Justice Ingrid Gustafson (61)
- Per curiam decisions: 0
- Concurring opinions: 19
- Justice with most concurring opinions: Justices James Rice and Ingrid Gustafson (5 and 5)
- Dissenting opinions: 45
- Justice with most dissenting opinions: Justice Laurie McKinnon (13)
For the study's full set of findings in Montana, click here.
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
- See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation, based on a variety of factors. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on the political or ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. To arrive at confidence scores we analyzed each justice's past partisan activity by collecting data on campaign finance, past political positions, party registration history, as well as other factors. The five categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
We used the Confidence Scores of each justice to develop a Court Balance Score, which attempted to show the balance among justices with Democratic, Republican, and Indeterminate Confidence Scores on a court. Courts with higher positive Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Republican Confidence Scores, while courts with lower negative Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Democratic Confidence Scores. Courts closest to zero either had justices with conflicting partisanship or justices with Indeterminate Confidence Scores.[11]
Montana had a Court Balance Score of -0.71, indicating Split control of the court. In total, the study found that there were 15 states with Democrat-controlled courts, 27 states with Republican-controlled courts, and eight states with Split courts. The map below shows the court balance score of each state.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Montana Public Radio, "Partisan politics are shaping Montana's Supreme Court races," May 20, 2022
- ↑ Montana Free Press, " Montana Supreme Court says abortion laws will remain blocked while case proceeds," August 9, 2022
- ↑ Montana Free Press, "Abortion-rights advocates rally support for Gustafson in Montana Supreme Court race," October 11, 2022
- ↑ The Washington Post, "A little-watched Montana race has become a contentious abortion fight," October 12, 2022
- ↑ Montana Public Radio, "Longtime Justice Jim Rice faces attorney Bill D'Alton for seat on Montana Supreme Court," October 24, 2022
- ↑ Montana Courts, ""Contact Us,"" accessed March 21, 2014
- ↑ Montana Judicial Branch, ""About Us,"" accessed July 15, 2014
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Montana," accessed July 31, 2014
- ↑ Montana Constitution
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ The Court Balance Score is calculated by finding the average partisan Confidence Score of all justices on a state supreme court. For example, if a state has justices on the state supreme court with Confidence Scores of 4, -2, 2, 14, -2, 3, and 4, the Court Balance is the average of those scores: 3.3. Therefore, the Confidence Score on the court is Mild Republican. The use of positive and negative numbers in presenting both Confidence Scores and Court Balance Scores should not be understood to that either a Republican or Democratic score is positive or negative. The numerical values represent their distance from zero, not whether one score is better or worse than another.
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
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[[Category: Marquee, completed election, 2022]
