chairmanships and power. And when we sat, we did not sit divided by political party, we sat alphabetically as equal citizens elected to work together to craft a new and improved foundational document for our beloved state. We made a conscious decision to act in a nonpartisan manner and since that time the citizens of Montana have benefited from the product of that decision.

 

For 56 days, we worked together, hammering out all of the sections of a new Constitution that we presented for ratification to the people who elected us. While we openly and sometimes strongly debated draft provisions from the convention committees, when the time came to sign the completed document, all 100 delegates, to the person, rose and walked down the aisle, put their pens to paper and unanimously signed Montana’s new Constitution, proud of what we had accomplished for the people of Montana, regardless of political affiliation. The resulting Montana Constitution is considered as the best state Constitution in the nation and among the best constitutional documents in the world.

 

Following our national model of Madisonian Democracy, Montana’s Constitution in Article III, Section 1, provides for a government divided into “three distinct branches.” These three separate and co-equal branches are distinctive to America and their built-in checks and balances provide the governmental chemistry that makes the United States the longest successful experiment in Democracy in the history of the world.

 

Non-partisan judges and courtrooms are the hallmark of the federal judicial branch. While states may differ on elements of that, Montana has, over the last 90 years, operated completely with non-Partisan judges in non-Partisan courtrooms. Montanans expect their justice to be blind, based upon the facts and the law, not upon partisan preferences. We tried it differently from 1889 to 1935 under the Copper Kings and the Copper Collar, and the people did not like it. Since 1936 we have stayed away from partisanship in our courts. In 1972, the Constitutional Convention opted to continue that structure.

 

Only seven states in America provide for partisan judges, and we strongly believe Montana should NOT join that small group. Polls show that most of Montana agrees with our position. We urge our fellow Montanans in the legislature to forego the urge to “toe the party line” in our courtrooms and consider the long arc of history which says that for us to be equal under the law, jus tice should be blind, that justice should not be about political beliefs.

 

Perhaps no article of the Constitution attracted as much research, interest and highly contested debate and discussion as the judicial article. Reformers had touted merit selection and appoint ment of judges or in the alternative, the public financing of an elected judiciary. But Montana's long held tradition of elected judges prevailed. In the 1972 Convention, no group or delegate ever proposed that the partisan election of judges would improve the quality of justice in Montana.

 

We urge you to resist those who seek to insert partisan political power into our courtrooms. Keep partisan politics in the two partisan branches – the Legislature and the Executive - and preserve the integrity of our judges and courtrooms by keeping them independent and non-Partisan.

 

Thank you.