Commentary: Giving credit where it’s due: Chief Justice Swanson and House Majority Leader Fitzpatrick
By George Ochenski for the Daily Montanan
There’s every reason to be alarmed at the sheer chaos and havoc emanating from the Oval Office. This is especially true since the GOP’s Congressional majorities seem impotent against the usurpation of their constitutional “power of the purse” and the function of Congress as a “separate but equal” branch of government that is supposed to be providing checks and balances on the dictator mode of the current Executive branch.
In that regard, some refreshing and hopeful news came from both Montana’s Supreme Court and Legislature that addresses both the separation of powers and fiscal responsibility that seem to have disappeared in Washington, D.C.
First to receive “credit where credit is due” is the newly-elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Cory Swanson, who made it very clear in his address to a joint session of the Legislature that he fully intends to serve the Constitution and the law, not political pressures from any venue — including the Executive or Legislative branches.
At least 27 bills have so far been introduced to exert legislative control over the Judiciary — and Swanson didn’t mince words when he forcefully pushed back on any attempts to inject partisan politics or issues in the halls of justice, particularly in the Supreme Court’s consideration of Constitutional issues.
Taking a firm stand against efforts by both the governor and certain legislators to interject political priorities in the Judiciary, Swanson unequivocally declared “the judiciary should remain non-partisan” and urged legislators to “focus the rest of your judiciary-related legislation on making the judiciary better.”
Using straight-forward language that seems to have been forgotten by the cowed and cowardly Congress facing an authoritarian presidency, he reminded legislators that: “Our two branches have historically been the bulwark against tyranny.”
Noting that legislative efforts to skirt the mandates and rights of the Montana Constitution will suffer a quick end in his Court that will consider “every case based on the facts and the law of that case, not based on the party or the affiliation of the litigants.”
He went on to warn that “well-respected attorneys” have already advised legislators “on bills that violate the constitutional separation of powers,” adding: “I urge you to listen to those arguments because they are probably the same arguments you will hear if those issues are litigated in my courtroom. And if at least three of my colleagues have the same commitment to process, it won’t matter if we are Democrats or Republicans.”
In another noteworthy move that contrasts sharply with the fiscal insanity in D.C., House Majority Leader Representative Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, sent an email to Senate President Matt Regier (R-Kalispell) noting that the House was receiving bills from the Senate without fiscal notes, meaning legislators have no idea of the cost or benefit of the measures — or the impact on taxpayers.
As noted in the Legislature’s rules: “All bills reported out of a committee of the Legislature, including interim committees, having a potential effect on the revenues, expenditures, or fiscal liability of the state, local governments, or public schools, except appropriation measures carrying specific dollar amounts, must include a fiscal note incorporating an estimate of the fiscal effect.”
So kudos to Swanson for standing up for an independent Judiciary and to Fitzpatrick for calling out Regier on the missing fiscal notes. Montana’s Congressional delegation would do well to take note, come out of their Trump-induced coma, and start doing their job to defend their role in the Constitutional separation of powers and control of the federal budget.