CI-132's time is now | Margaret R. Gallagher
By: Margaret R. Gallagher
October 20, 2026
Published in the Helena Independent Record
Citizens Initiative 132 takes on the current threat to Montana's historically non-partisan judicial election process. For over 90 years, Montanans have wisely chosen to keep politics out of judicial elections. Judges are not politicians and should never be accountable to party bosses or those in powerful positions. They are experienced public servants govemed by
high ethical standards. As a former Montana state career prosecutor, I ponder this threat to our judicial election tradition. Have we failed to teach current generations about the unique and necessary role judges play in our form of government? Have Hollywood movies misled some to assume our elected judges are inherently political actors? Have some been led astray from normative democratic principles by distracting and deceitful political winds? A Montana judge's mandate is to rule impartially according to facts and law. Montana judges are governed by a comprehensive and sobering ethical code. The Preamble to the 2008 Montana Code of Judicial Conduct, under which a Montana state judge's conduct is governed, begins:ỗAn independent, fair, and impartial judiciary is indispensable to our system of justice... Thus, the judiciary plays a central role in preserving the principles of justice and the rule of law. Montana law also states that ta Judge or candidate for judicial office shall not engage in political campaign activity that is inconsistent with independence,
The fundamental message for Montana citizens is that because Montana judges are mandated by the precept of impartiality, Montana judicial elections by extension must remain nonpartisan. As a prosecutor and an attorney in general, when presenting a matter to a state judge, nothing was more comforting than being assured that the individual who would judge the merits and apply the law was elected according to these codes and through a nonpartisan process, no matter the outcome of the case. Montanans want impartial judges. It is time to adopt CI-132's five straightforward words as part of our remarkable 1972 Montana Constitution: *Judicial elections shall remain non-partisan."
Margaret R. Gallager is a member of the Montana State Bar and a retired state prosecutor from Billings.