The Montana kids are alright

Liars will lie. Cheaters will cheat. Bullies will bully, and they will bully anyone they can — including a bunch of young people who just want to grow up and live their lives in a clean and healthy Montana.

As reported in the Daily Inter Lake (Feb. 29), Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and House Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, have been joined by fellow bullies NorthWestern Energy, the Frontier Institute, 14 states, chambers of commerce, several Montana mining interests, and the Navajo Nation in filing amicus briefs with the Montana Supreme Court in a disgraceful attempt to over-turn the district court decision in Held v. Montana. 

That ruling upheld the right of all Montanans “to a clean and healthful environment” as very clearly set forth in the Montana State Constitution. It found “limitations” to the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), imposed by the legislature in 2011 and 2023, to be unconstitutional. 

These “limitations” said environmental reviews for projects could not consider impacts outside of Montana and prohibit the state from evaluating green house gas emissions and climate impacts. What part of Montanans’ right “to a clean and healthful environment” did the legislators not understand? The amicus brief submitted by Ellsworth and Regier on behalf of the Legislature claimed that the district court’s decision was a violation of the separation of powers. 

Well, I took civics in the eighth grade and learned that interpreting the law is the very job of the judiciary. If the Legislature enacts a law that is in direct contradiction to the state constitution, it is the role of the judiciary to correct the error by invalidating the law. This is not a breach of the “separation of powers,” it is an illustration of how the legislative and judicial branches of government are supposed to work.

Setting the separation of powers argument aside, why aren’t the legislators — who are supposed to be public servants — cheering these 16 youthful citizens on and supporting them for defending an inalienable right that is clearly articulated in the state constitution? 

It takes a lot of heart and sacrifice to be plaintiffs in a case like this one, but if the Legislature had done its job, the legal challenge would not have been necessary. 

The Legislature should be enacting laws that uphold the Montana Constitution, not laws that try to work around it or are outright contradictory to it. The young plaintiffs in this monumental case will be on the right side of history when it is written — the Legislature and those siding with them will not.

Robert Horne, Jr. lives in Whitefish.