17 September 2022 — 1443 mdt

Retired justice James Nelson urges Montanans
to keep Justice Gustafson on MT’s supreme court

Guest Essay By James C. Nelson
Montana Supreme Court Justice (Ret.)

Justice Ingrid Gustafson

Justice Ingrid Gustafson’s retention race is the most important Montana Supreme Court race in Montana’s history.

Montanan’s choice to reelect Justice Gustafson will be monumental. Our vote will be nothing less than We the People’s reaffirmation the we value — indeed, demand—that our judges demonstrate the sort of proven competence, integrity, fairness, impartiality, independence and commitment to Montana’s Constitution that will ensure that ours are courts of justice, grounded in the rule of law, and dedicated to equal justice for all.

We have all witnessed what rank partisanship, cronyism and cult-mentality can do to the judiciary. Judges who vote the party line, who ignore and overrule long-standing precedent and settled law, who violate the separation of church and state by grounding court decisions in religion and who violate, with impunity, their oaths to support, protect and defend our Constitutions in favor of trashing our Constitutional rights with which they disagree.

When we or a member of our family need to go to court, we must know that the judge or justices hearing our case will base their decision on the facts and the law. Who of us would want to appear before a judge knowing that the fix was in; that the judge owed his allegiance to his political party and not to the Constitution and the rule of law.

We get the best justice with Justice Gustafson on the Montana Supreme Court. Without her, we won’t.

Please join me in voting to retain Justice Ingrid Gustafson.