Montana Senate GOP forms select committee on ‘judicial reform’

Montana Senate Republicans are launching a new special select committee following several court decisions that went against their favored outcomes, saying those decisions overstepped the separation of powers and alleging several courts violated the state Constitution in the same process.

Almost simultaneously, Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth issued a subpoena to the Secretary of State Tuesday asking for all copies of a proposed ballot initiative that the Supreme Court wrote the ballot statement for on Monday and sent to the Secretary of State directly, saying it did not need to go through the legislative review process because the attorney general never found the proposal to be legally sufficient, thus not triggering that provision of statute.

Tuesday’s announcement marks the second time in two years Republican lawmakers will form a special committee to try and address what they believe are wrongfully decided court decisions or procedural missteps ahead of the next legislative session. But Democratic leadership said they did not plan to participate in the committee as of Tuesday.