GOP Investigation Into Montana Judiciary Continues, Awaiting Final Court Orders
Montana lawmakers continue their investigation into allegations of bias among members of the judicial branch. After a series of rapid developments, there’s a break in the action and it’s not clear what comes next. MTPR’s Shaylee Ragar shares her reporting with Freddy Monares.
FREDDY Shaylee, this investigation started at the tail end of the legislative session. Can you remind us how the Legislature came to investigate the judiciary?
SHAYLEE Sure. This started when an internal poll of the Montana Judges Association became public earlier this spring. It showed that some members of the judicial branch voiced support and opposition to bills moving through the legislature that could impact the judiciary.
Listen • 3:36
Joe Lamson, a Democrat on Montana s districting commission, is particularly fond of this map showing the state s legislative districts as drawn in the early 2000s. Lamson says Montana historian Harry Fritz called it, The best map drawn in Montana since Lewis and Clark came through.
For the past 30 years, Joe Lamson has been crunching the numbers trying to figure out how Montana could regain the congressional seat it lost after the 1990 census. He says it s something he never thought would happen in his lifetime. The growth rates in the other parts of the country were just . we just could never keep up, says Lamson, a Democrat who was a political staffer and campaign manager and now serves as one of the five members of the state s independent districting commission.
Listen • 3:38
Now that Montana will have more than one U.S. House district for the first time in decades, GOP lawmakers have rushed a bill to take over districting from Montana’s independent committee.
Shaylee Ragar of Montana Public Radio has the story.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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Montana Capitol Building in Helena, MT.
The 2021 meeting of Montana lawmakers was defined by Republicans ironclad majority in both chambers with the backing of the first GOP governor in 16 years and work that began during a pandemic. MTPR’s Shaylee Ragar and YPR’s Kevin Trevellyan have been in the halls and zoom meetings for the past 80 days. Here’s their breakdown of the final day of action.
Shaylee Ragar Kevin, the Republican caucus held a press conference after the session had officially adjourned, and they were in high spirits.
Kevin Trevellyan Judging from their farewell speeches Republicans think they successfully fulfilled the mandate they believe voters gave them. They passed bills on party lines that provide tax relief, expand concealed firearm carry rights, limit abortion access and narrow the power of public health officials during states of emergency.
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