Blatant violation of Constitution

Suppose our local Republican Party passed a resolution stating, “We support Judge Smith.” Upon passage, each central committee member could face six months in jail.

Wait, you say. What about the First Amendment?

Montana law provides a political party “may not endorse, contribute to, or make an expenditure to support or oppose a judicial candidate.” The penalty for violation is jail and fines.

Of course, this law is an unsupportable, outrageous assault on the First Amendment. The Constitution’s protection of political speech is not ambiguous. The First Amendment provides that government “shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech.” Excepting the likes of Kim Jong-un, can anyone seriously argue that a law to imprison county central committees for endorsing judicial candidates is not a restriction on speech?

The 9th Circuit correctly held that this law is “unconstitutional on its face.” Notwithstanding this common sense ruling consistent with the First Amendment’s clear language, last month our Montana attorney general took the unusual step to petition the United States Supreme Court to overturn this ruling.

If the speech police want to imprison people who support or oppose judicial candidates, they should follow the proper process to amend the First Amendment. They could add something like: “Nothing in this section prohibits governments from fining or imprisoning people for endorsing or opposing judicial candidates.”

Of course, such a clear attack on our freedoms would be condemned and have no chance of being ratified by three quarters of the state legislatures. As a result, rather than following the proper amendment procedure, these imperious censors find it easier to attack our freedoms by petitioning courts to amend our Constitution through judicial decree.

Our attorney general should not march lock-step with the enemies of free speech who want to gut our constitutional rights by judicial fiat. In future lawsuits, we hope he champions our rights rather than oppose them. 

Scott is a resident of Kalispell