HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union plans to spend $1.3 million in campaign advertising to educate Montana voters about state Supreme Court candidates’ positions on abortion and other civil rights issues in a constitutionally-protected measure that would protect abortion access on the ballot.
The costs come after Republicans failed to unseat him in 2022 by giving an unprecedented partisan endorsement to his challenger. GOP lawmakers also argue that the Supreme Court has enacted laws from the start to prevent restrictions on abortion access or make it harder to vote.
“As politicians pass increasingly extreme laws, including abortion restrictions and bans, voters have the opportunity to elect judges who will protect basic state rights from these attacks,” the national ACLU and the ACLU of Montana said in a statement Thursday.
Nominees for state supreme court may not seek, accept, or use partisan endorsements. The ACLU of Montana said it did not endorse either candidate.
“From abortion to marriage equality to Native American voting rights, the people we entrust to the Montana Supreme Court will play a critical role in determining whether we uphold the rights Montanans value or allow politicians to take away our freedoms,” the group’s executive director, Akilah Deernose, said in a statement.
The ACLU wants to make sure voters know where the Supreme Court nominees stand on these issues “so they can vote informed in November,” Deernose said.
The $1.3 million is the largest amount the ACLU has spent on a Montana election, spokesman Andrew Everett said. The ACLU is also spending money on Supreme Court races in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina.
More money has poured into state Supreme Court races in recent years, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and sent the abortion issue back to the states, said Mike Milov-Cordoba of the Brennan Center for Justice.
Voters generally don’t have “strong preconceptions” about candidates in Supreme Court races, so the ad buy is “potentially significant,” he said.
Total spending for the two Montana Supreme Court races in 2022 was a record $4.6 million, including $500,000 from the state Republican Party, according to the Brennan Center.
Milov-Cordoba said he wouldn’t be surprised to see similar spending this year, “especially given conservatives’ frustration with the Montana Supreme Court’s delay on unconstitutional laws.”
ACLU ads and mailers point out that Chief Justice nominee Jerry Lynch and Associate Justice nominee Katherine Bidegaray agree with the Montana Supreme Court’s analysis of a 1999 ruling that the state’s constitutional right to privacy protects the right to pre-viability abortion. patient choice.
Chief Justice nominee Cory Swanson said it was not appropriate for him to comment on a case that may come before the court in the future, and Associate Justice nominee Dan Wilson did not respond to an inquiry sent by the ACLU of Montana, the organization said. .
The campaign committee, Montanans for Fair and Impartial Courts, has reported spending just over $425,000 on television ads supporting Lynch, state campaign finance reports show.
Montana voters will be asked this fall whether the 1999 Supreme Court decision should be enshrined in the constitution.
Historically, conservatives have spent a much larger share of spending in state Supreme Court races, Milov-Cordoba said. But since Roe v. Wade was overturned, left-wing groups have been nearly as large as the nation as a whole.
He said that while abortion is a big driver of spending growth, state supreme courts are also being asked to weigh in on issues like partisanship, voting rights and climate change.
“So who sits on these courts is a very important issue,” he said.
