Ruling highlights differences in Supreme Court candidates

Recently, liberal activists on the Montana Supreme Court abandoned common sense, deciding that biological reality is subordinate to personal feeling. The high court threw out Montana’s law that prohibits residents from changing the sex on their identification documents, effectively blocking the state’s effort to firmly define sex as binary.

Ignoring biological facts on official state documents is not “progress.” It is a dangerous distortion of the truth with profound, real-world consequences.

Liberal Justices Ingrid Gustafson and Katherine Bidegaray have been central to driving the trans agenda on the Montana Supreme Court. And now they are openly campaigning for Supreme Court candidate Amy Eddy, another out-of-touch liberal from the same mold.

The trans agenda pushed by Amy Eddy and her supporters has dangerous and devastating consequences to vulnerable populations in Montana. This is the mindset that leads to boys competing in girls’ sports and grown men being allowed to loiter in women’s changing rooms.

The Montana Legislature has worked hard to set state policy on a sane course that keeps protections in place for women and girls, but those efforts have been in vain with a leftist Supreme Court willing to put ideology ahead of fair treatment for all Montanans. Amy Eddy would only supercharge the court’s leftward shift.

For a stark reminder of why objective definitions of sex matter in the real world, we only need to look at a recent, much more grounded decision out of the Flathead County District Court. On April 15, Judge Dan Wilson handed down a 30-year sentence in State v. Calftail. The defendant, Justina Fey Calftail — formerly known as Justin Lee Calftail — was convicted of felony sexual assault. Specifically, the defendant was accused of groping the genitals of two children while they were playing at a public park. In his sentencing, Judge Wilson injected a vital, desperately needed dose of reality into the Montana justice system.

Calftail has a significant criminal history under his former name, including theft, drug possession, bail jumping, criminal trespass and assault. Today, however, Calftail identifies as female. If the Montana Supreme Court’s logic were applied strictly across all state institutions, one might argue that this individual should simply be recognized as a woman and housed in a women’s facility.

Fortunately, Judge Wilson refused to entertain this biological fiction. In his order, the court explicitly noted that, despite identifying as female, the defendant “is and remains both genetically and anatomically male and possesses a normal sexual libido, as well as presenting an elevated risk to commit sexual offenses in the future.”

Judge Wilson correctly assessed the limits of state law, ruling that a “declaration of a transgender identity does not mandate one’s inclusion within a protected class” when it comes to conditions of confinement. His conclusion was firmly grounded in undeniable biological reality and the paramount need to protect the public.

Judge Wilson’s common-sense decision in Calftail is the perfect contrast to the ideologically driven decision by the Amy-Eddy-type liberals on the Montana Supreme Court. Fortunately, Montanans will have the opportunity to cast their vote on this difference this year, because Judges Dan Wilson and Amy Eddy are running against each other for an open seat on the Montana Supreme Court.

We need a legal system that relies on objective truth, not one that forces the public to participate in a delusion. This year, Montanans have the opportunity to vote on the difference. I’m supporting Judge Dan Wilson for the Montana Supreme Court because I’m tired of activist judges ignoring the will of the Montanans voters. Let’s bring some sanity back to our high court.

Rep. Amy Regier represents House District 6 in the Flathead.  She is the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.