Montana's Supreme Court is "completely off the rails, and we need to bring it back," says Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte.
"Here in Montana, our judges are elected. They're nonpartisan races. But our Supreme Court is hyperpartisan. And you see it in this decision," the Republican governor told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda" in reference to a ruling by the court in favor of 16 young activists in a landmark climate change case, affirming that the state violated their constitutional rights to a clean environment.
"Essentially what they said is that every individual, including these children, have a right to sue if they think they somehow have developed anxiety related to the climate. This is an invitation for lawsuits.
"It's a bad decision. We're looking at our options on what we can do here. Montana is a net energy exporter, but future supply is put at risk because of this decision," he added.
On the court's December decision affirming a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked a state law prohibiting transition-related healthcare for transgender minors, Gianforte told Newsmax: "The reason we got here is because of woke leftist politics.
"The court actually ruled that parents in Montana don't even have a right to be notified if somebody takes their minor child for surgery. This has very broad implications.
"Again, we're reviewing the decision. But the reason we got here is because of woke leftist political objectives," he told Newsmax.
"The ACLU spent over $1 million in Supreme Court races this past fall. The trial lawyers weigh in in a big way.
"A number of other states have made these judicial elections partisan. The judges have proven that they are partisan. They even went so far as to overturn our election integrity bills," Gianforte added.
"I passed a very simple bill that said people should show a photo ID to vote. They said that was unconstitutional.
"I signed a bill that said you can only vote once in each election. They said that was unconstitutional," he said.
"So we have a court that's completely off the rails, and we need to bring it back."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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