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your homegrown newspaper January 17, 2024
Vol. 20, No. 18
Judge rules in favor of news outlets in right-to-know lawsuit
FLIC pg. 5
Helena district court judge rules interviews of candidates for vacant judicial positions should be open to public by Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Montana Free Press
Schools pg. 8
Sports pg. 14
A district court judge has determined that candidates for judicial positions do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when being interviewed by representatives of the governor’s office, the result of a lawsuit filed by the Choteau Acantha newspaper and Montana Free Press. The Acantha and MTFP lawsuit contended that an advisory council that Gov. Greg Gianforte appointed to help him winnow the field of candidates for a judicial vacancy in north-central Montana unconstitutionally conducted interviews and deliberations in executive session, violating the state’s right-to-know laws.
PHOTO BY ARREN KIMBEL-SANNIT / MTFP
Melody Martinsen, editor of the Choteau Acantha, poses for a portrait in March 2023.
“The judge confirmed our understanding of the Montana Constitution and case law, that applicants for judicial vacancies do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in matters related to their qualifications,” Melody Martinsen, the editor and co-owner of the Acantha, said in a statement to MTFP. The governor’s office said it intends to appeal
the ruling to the Montana Supreme Court. “The governor is committed to protecting an individual’s right to privacy while maintaining the public’s right to participation,” Gianforte spokesperson Kaitlin Price said in a statement Tuesday. The lawsuit marks the first challenge to the ad-hoc judicial vacancy process that Gianforte
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created following the passage of the 2021 session’s Senate Bill 140. That legislation, backed by Gianforte and Republican lawmakers, eliminated the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission in favor of direct gubernatorial appointments to the bench. Previously, the commission interviewed candidates and gave the governor a list of options from which he had
to choose. The bill itself faced an unsuccessful legal challenge. While the bill eliminated the commission, it didn’t explicitly prescribe how the governor should fill judicial vacancies, so long as the candidates are lawyers in good standing. But, for each of the eight seats on the bench that have opened since the passage of SB 140, the governor has appointed an advisory council comprising prominent community members to interview and recommend candidates. The governor has no obligation to select the candidate the council recommends. In January, the Montana Supreme Court notified Gianforte of an upcoming vacancy in Montana’s Ninth Judicial District, which encompasses Glacier, Pondera, Teton and Toole counties. As he had done in the past, the governor appointed an advisory council. In March, the council held a meeting and interviewed two candidates see page 2