Montana Supreme Court candidates discuss judicial independence, partisan attacks and individual rights • Daily Montanan

“We live in a time of unprecedented attacks on justice, on individual rights, especially women’s rights, and on the rule of law. These are crucial to a healthy democracy,” said Bidegaray from Sydney.

Bidegaray said she was inspired to fight against injustice after her father died and the federal government took the position that his death meant her family would default on a loan for their land, even though they had never missed a payment.

She helped her mother argue that the government might be discriminating against the family – she would not have taken the same position if her mother had died instead of her father, she said. The government backed down and today the land belongs to her, Bidegaray said.

Bidegaray’s district includes Dawson, McCone, Prairie, Wibaux and Richland counties. According to her campaign bio, she has been elected as a district judge four times and has served since 2003.

Seats on the Montana Supreme Court are vacant as Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Justice Dirk Sandefur are retiring.

Neither Cory Swanson, who is running for chief justice, nor Justice Dan Wilson, who is running for judge, attended the forum. However, in phone calls after the forum, both said they already had other commitments and pledged to remain independent.

Swanson said he could not attend the forum because he is at a district attorneys’ conference; he is currently the Broadwater District Attorney.

However, his goal is to usher in a new era for court operations. For example, he will work to provide funds to modernize the court and to hire more judges to handle the caseload.

“I said no one is buying my results,” Swanson said.

Wilson, of Flathead County, said he does not make decisions based on political considerations or influences, nor does he feel the need to defend himself against alleged interference by other powers.

Rather, he said, he decides cases based on the facts and the law, regardless of whether other checks and balances attempt to exert control.

“I think that’s the recipe for success in preserving judicial independence,” said Wilson, who pointed out that he had previously scheduled this day in his court calendar.

The applause came Monday after Lynch emphasized that women’s reproductive freedom is a right to privacy protected by the Montana Constitution. But Lynch said privacy goes far beyond women’s health care.

“People who don’t have ovaries, for example, need to understand that the right to privacy is much broader,” Lynch said.

In Montana, the right to abortion is protected by the right to privacy, as was the case in the 1999 Armstrong v. State of Montana case. Montana’s Republican-led legislature has passed numerous bills to restrict abortion rights, but they have been blocked in court.

At the event, however, the City Club moderator asked the two candidates about another issue of state and national interest. He asked them to talk about the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron vs. Natural Resources Defense Council.

The 1984 ruling said courts must rely on the expertise of federal agencies when assessing legal disputes. Experts fear that the overturning of the ruling will mean that agencies will no longer be able to rely on scientific experts when setting regulations.

Bidegaray said it doesn’t matter whether she agrees with the decision or not – once the U.S. Supreme Court makes its decision, she must honor her oath of office and abide by the decision.

She said some people feared the decision would mean an agency’s power to protect consumers from the very companies it was supposed to regulate would be “virtually eliminated.”

However, Bidegaray also said that cases could be judged from many different perspectives and that creative litigants would find ways to argue that the Chevron result was not applicable to their particular case.

“I have to listen with an open mind,” said Bidegaray.

Lynch said that as a citizen, he does not believe the Supreme Court made a good decision, and as a federal judge, he has reviewed many cases that have emerged from the administrative process, incorporating the expertise of biologists, scientists, chemists and others.

“This decision will impact all of us in more ways than we understand,” Lynch said.

He said it puts a strain on federal courts, which are already understaffed, underfunded and overburdened, and he said state courts are in even worse shape.

He said the decision draws helpful scientific insights from one case and addresses a larger and “massive” problem.

“The destruction of the administrative state in the federal government is a cause for great concern,” Lynch said.

In his remarks, Lynch also took aim at the Montana Group, which was hired by his opponent Swanson. Lynch said the Montana Group is the “largest lobbying group in the state of Montana,” and he believes having a chief justice tied to the pharmaceutical and extraction industries undermines the integrity of the judicial system.

“Let me be honest: This doesn’t look good,” Lynch said.

In a phone call, Swanson said he had been friends with Chuck Denowh of the Montana Group since college, they rode together and Denowh was best man at his wedding: “He’s the first person I thought it would make sense to help me.”

At the same time, Swanson said, he insists that this is a bipartisan election campaign.

Bidegaray said her parents grew up in occupied France during World War II and developed an appreciation for democracy and the U.S. She said she is running for Supreme Court because she also believes in democracy.

She said her opponent accused her of having a political agenda, and she said she did indeed have an agenda. However, Bidegaray said it was not political.

“My agenda remains clear: to protect the rights of all Montanans, to uphold the uniqueness of our 1972 Montana Constitution, and to maintain a fair and impartial judiciary,” she said.

After the event, she said she would fight attempts to influence the judiciary from the left just as vigorously as from the right.

Lynch also stressed at the forum that judicial independence is of paramount importance, saying it is the most important issue he is hearing on the campaign trail. The other issues are protecting Montana’s Constitution and individual rights, he said, and Bidegaray agreed.

But Lynch said efforts to weaken the judiciary are part of a national strategic plan playing out in Montana. He cited as an example the effort to overturn the Marbury v. Madison case, which provided for judicial review of disputes between citizens and states, and said it would have dangerous consequences.

“If we lose the independence of the judiciary, democracy will follow,” he said.