Thank you, Amy Regier, but you missed the point
Many thanks to Amy Regier for noting that Judge Amy Eddy has earned the support of Justice Ingrid Gustafson and Justice Kathryn Bidegaray (Ruling highlights differences in Supreme Court candidates, April 17). This unprecedented endorsement from two Montana Supreme Court justices reveals the extraordinary respect Judge Eddy has earned over her decade of service on the district court bench.
What Ms. Regier’s opinion piece missed, however, is that Justices Gustafson and Bidegaray are not alone. Judge Amy Eddy has, in fact, received a wave of endorsements from both current and retired Montana Supreme Court justices and district court judges. All are jurists who know what it takes to do the work of a Supreme Court justice and who personally know both Judge Eddy and her opponent.
In addition to include Justices Ingrid Gustafson and Katherine Bidegaray, Judge Eddy’s campaign is endorsed and supported by Justice Pat Cotter (Ret.), Justice Bill Leaphart (Ret.), Justice Jim Nelson (Ret.), Justice Dirk Sandefur (Ret.), Justice Jim Regnier (Ret.), and Justice Mike Wheat (Ret.).
And that’s not all. Expressing equal confidence in Judge Eddy’s temperament, intelligence and readiness to serve on Montana’s Supreme Court, a wide array of district court judges from across Montana have also endorsed her campaign. These include the following:
Judge Elizabeth Best (Cascade), Judge Holly Brown (Ret., Gallatin), Judge John Brown (Gallatin), myself (Judge Katherine Curtis, Ret., Flathead), Judge David Cybulski (Ret., Daniels, Roosevelt and Sheridan), Judge Jeffrey Dahood (Deer Lodge, Granite and Powell), Judge Colette Davies (Yellowstone), Judge Dusty Deschamp (Ret., Mineral and Missoula), Judge Bart Erickson (Ret., Flathead County and U.S. Magistrate), Judge Don Harris (Yellowstone), Judge Joe Hegel (Ret., Carter, Custer, Fallon, Garfield, Powder River, Rosebud and Treasure, and Water Court), Judge Kurt Krueger (Ret., Silver Bow), Judge Julie Macek-Sandefur (Ret., Cascade), Judge Jason Marks (Mineral and Missoula), Judge Ed McLean (Ret., Mineral and Missoula), Judge Mike Moses (Ret., Yellowstone), Judge Nick Murnion (Ret., Carter, Custer, Fallon, Garfield, Powder River, Rosebud and Treasure), Judge Jon Oldenburg (Ret., Fergus, Judith Basin and Petroleum), Judge David Ortley (Ret., Flathead), Judge Olivia Rieger (Dawson, Wibaux and Prairie), Judge David Sandler (Ret., Workers’ Compensation Court), Judge Kathy Seeley (Broadwater and Lewis & Clark), Judge Jeffrey Sherlock (Ret., Broadwater and Lewis & Clark), Judge Greg Todd (Ret., Yellowstone), Judge Karen Townsend (Ret., Mineral and Missoula), Judge Jim Wheelis (Ret., Lincoln, Mineral and Missoula), and Judge Bob Whelan (Silver Bow).
More telling still, nearly all the judges who endorsed her opponent’s unsuccessful campaign in 2024 now enthusiastically endorse Judge Eddy in this race.
Judge Amy Eddy has served as a district court judge since 2015 and has been re-elected three times by the voters of Flathead County. A graduate of the University of Montana School of Law, Judge Eddy knows Montana’s courts inside and out, having appeared before them on behalf of working Montanans for 15 years before taking the bench. Since 2015 she has presided over more than 10,000 cases across Montana, including family law matters, felony criminal trials and complex constitutional challenges. Judge Eddy also volunteered to establish the Asbestos Claims Court to resolve thousands of claims of individuals exposed to asbestos as a result of W.R. Grace’s mining operations in Libby.
The conclusion to be drawn from this wave of judicial endorsements is that the people who know best which Supreme Court candidate deserves your vote are of one mind. And, in one voice, they are saying, vote for Judge Amy Eddy.
Katherine Curtis served Flathead County as a district court judge from 1995 through 2012.