Letters to the editor March 26

Checks and balances

Matt Regier recently opined in "Ruling distorts role of judicial branch" (March 19) that Judge Kathy Seeley's decision in Held v. Montana wanders "beyond constitutional directive into policy making." He cites 13 references to the Legislature in Article IX of the Montana Constitution to zero references to the Judiciary in said article to conclude that the Judicial branch has no power to check the Legislature on environmental policy-making.

This simplistic straw-man argument is disingenuous at best. For starters, Mr. Regier's claim that "each branch of state government has distinct and separate roles" seeks to deify "separation of powers" while completely ignoring the equally important principle of "checks and balances." In perhaps its most important case ever, the U.S. Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803) clearly established the principle of judicial review, under which the job of deciding "what the law is" is a judicial, not legislative function. Indeed, the Legislature's own website recognizes this unremarkable principle by stating that the mission of the courts includes "protect[ing] the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States and Montana."