Montana
Keep your hands off our courts and our constitution • Daily Montanan
Montana Republicans say they want “judicial reform.”
That’s cute.
What they want is a loyalty program for judges. Punch seven partisan ballots, get one Supreme Court free.
Let’s be blunt: This isn’t about transparency. It isn’t about efficiency. It isn’t about “facts not feelings.” It’s about turning the Montana Supreme Court into a subsidiary of the state GOP.
Not reform. Capture.
Not balance. Control.
Not democracy. Something uglier.
If you can’t win the argument, change the referee
For decades, Montana has elected judges in nonpartisan races. Why? Because the moment you slap an “R” or a “D” next to a judge’s name, you invite voters to treat courtrooms like cable news panels.
Republicans now say voters “deserve more information.” Translation: They want a shortcut. A partisan brand. A jersey.
Because nothing says “impartial justice” like campaign mailers that read: “Judge Dan Wilson — endorsed by the party trying to change the Constitution to give him more power.”
If you want a red court, just say so. Don’t call it “reform.”
At a recent GOP dinner, Supreme Court candidate Dan Wilson drew applause as party leaders pledged to “counter the left tilt” of the court. The Montana GOP chairman openly said the party needs to counter liberal groups in judicial elections.
Read that again.
They’re not pretending this is about neutrality. They’re organizing to take the bench.
When a judge gets a standing ovation at a partisan dinner, that’s not independence. That’s an audition.
The “Big Sky Blueprint” — or Big Sky Smokescreen?
Meanwhile, “Americans for Prosperity” — which sounds like a Rotary Club pancake breakfast but is actually a Virginia-based nonprofit bankrolled by Charles and the late David Koch network — is carpet-bombing Montana with glossy door-hangers about our alleged “decline.” According to them, regulations killed logging, courts are run amok, and government is the villain in every fairy tale — which is convenient, because when your donors prefer fewer rules and friendlier judges, every problem starts to look like a regulation..
Facts are sacred. So let’s talk facts.
From 1940 to 1960 — the era they romanticize — CEO pay was stable. It actually dropped during WWII and barely crept up in the 1950s. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio hovered around 25-to-1.
Today? Roughly 300-to-1.
Back then, labor unions were strong. Taxes on the wealthy were high. Regulation wasn’t a dirty word — it was how we built a middle class.
They don’t want the 1950s economy. They want the 2020s CEO bonuses.
AFP says judges are blocking the will of the people. But here’s the inconvenient Montana truth: If you don’t like the judge assigned to your case, you can substitute them out with a one-sentence motion.
One sentence. Judge gone. New judge assigned. Rotating system. No judge shopping.
You don’t need a constitutional amendment. You need a piece of paper and a pen.
If your problem is one judge, use the rulebook. If your problem is the rulebook, you’re not seeking fairness — you’re seeking power.
Forty years in the trenches
I’ve practiced law in Montana for more than 40 years. I’ve lost plenty of cases. Won a few. I never once lost because a judge was a Republican or a Democrat.
I didn’t even know what they were.
I lost because the facts weren’t on my side. I won because they were.
That’s how it’s supposed to work.
Will a Republican judge decide your divorce differently than a nonpartisan judge?
Will your child custody case turn on party registration?
Will your property dispute hinge on which primary ballot the judge once pulled?
Unlikely.
What will change is perception. And perception is everything in a court of law.
Justice must not only be blind — it must not wear a campaign button.
But if the GOP’s project succeeds, every controversial ruling becomes a partisan talking point. Every opinion becomes a litmus test. Every judicial race becomes a proxy war.
That’s not strengthening the judiciary. That’s weaponizing it.
When politicians start picking judges like cabinet members, the Constitution becomes a suggestion.
They’re even fighting a constitutional initiative to preserve nonpartisan judges.
Think about that. Citizens want to protect nonpartisan courts. The Republican party wants to defeat that effort.
If your plan requires changing the Constitution to win elections you can’t otherwise win, maybe the problem isn’t the Constitution.
The real goal
This isn’t about education reform.
It isn’t about timber.
It isn’t about pension structures.
It’s about power.
Courts are inconvenient when they enforce constitutional limits. Courts are inconvenient when they say, “No, Legislature, you went too far.”
That’s not activism. That’s separation of powers.
A court that never tells the legislature “no” isn’t conservative. It’s captive.
Montana’s judiciary isn’t perfect. No branch is. But turning it into a partisan branch of the ultra-right Republican Party is not reform.
It’s a power grab in a black robe.
It’s shameful.
It’s undemocratic.
And it’s a problem.
Montana doesn’t need red courts or blue courts. We need courts that are colorblind.
Hands off our Constitution.
Hands off our courts.
Montana
Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) – joined by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and 22 other Members of Congress – sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the immediate closure of Camp East Montana in El Paso. They cite urgent humanitarian concerns following multiple deaths in custody, documented unsafe conditions, and serious deficiencies in medical care.
This marks the fourth letter Congresswoman Escobar has sent to DHS and ICE leadership. The previous three letters have gone unanswered.
The letter can be found in its entirety below and here.
“Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons:
We are urgently calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to shut down Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.
Camp East Montana has been operational for six months, and at least three people have died at the site since December 2025: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and Victor Manuel Diaz. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has officially ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”
Camp East Montana was constructed in a matter of weeks and opened before construction was complete and it does not have enough federal staff on-site to provide adequate oversight. Over the last several months, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, in whose district this facility is located, has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding concerns about the conditions at Camp East Montana, and has received no responses.
According to detainees, there have been constant and consistent problems at the facility since it opened, beginning with the facility’s poor construction and poor ambient temperature control. Upon opening, the drinking water at Camp East Montana tasted foul and made some detainees sick. Detainees continue to be served inadequate meals, including food that is rotten or frozen; last fall, the facility was also consistently failing to make dietary accommodations for detainees. Detainees have shared that they have sporadic access to outside spaces and recreational areas, and that their dormitory pods are cleaned only once every eight days, despite pods housing up to 72 people at a time. Laundry services are not consistent, and people are washing their clothes in the facility showers. Additionally, the facility experiences flooding and sewage backups when it rains, leading to stagnant water.
One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees. Our offices have heard that only the most ill detainees are referred to the medical unit and that there are inconsistencies as to how soon after arriving detainees are able to undergo initial medical screenings. Detainees with chronic health issues who rely on regimented medications for their health have had difficulty accessing necessary medications, including blood pressure medication and insulin.
At least one of the deaths that occurred in ICE custody, the death of Francisco Gaspar-Andres, appears to partially be the result of poor medical care by staff at the facility. According to ICE’s own account, Gaspar-Andres sought medical attention from facility staff for increasingly serious symptoms, but was only transferred to an area hospital once his condition had severely deteriorated.
In addition to our concerns about poor medical care, we are also aware that detainees have experienced irregular access to their legal counsel, including instances of detainees having only two minutes allotted per phone call every 8 days, which is contrary to ICE’s Detention Standards on access to counsel, and that the belatedly created law library lacks adequate resources for the amount of people currently held at the facility. In January 2026, ICE announced the on-site death of Geraldo Lunas Campos “after experiencing medical distress.” ICE opened an investigation into the death, but did not provide a cause of death. However, The Washington Post later reported that another man detained at Camp East Montana had witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos when he refused to enter a segregated housing unit. Weeks later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled that Lunas Campos had experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” and ruled his death a homicide.
Lunas Campos is the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana as a result of a use-of-force incident, but we are strongly concerned that he will not be the last if ICE is allowed to continue operating Camp East Montana.
ICE was given $45 billion in taxpayer dollars in the reconciliation bill, $1.2 billion of which were awarded to Acquisition Logistics, LLC, a company with no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities, to build and oversee Camp East Montana. However, in the wake of three deaths in custody so far, continued concerns about conditions at the facility, and ICE’s apparent disinterest in responding to oversight letters from Congress, we do not believe Camp East Montana is being run professionally or responsibly.
Camp East Montana must be shut down. For the safety of everyone at the facility, for an end to abuses to detainees, and for fiscal responsibility to the American people, the site cannot continue to operate. We are calling on DHS and ICE to move to immediately close operations at Camp East Montana.
We look forward to hearing from the Department promptly on this matter.
The other co-signers include Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Yvette Clarke, Lloyd Doggett, Maxwell Frost, Jesús “Chuy” García, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Henry Johnson, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Andrea Salinas, Janice Schakowsky, Darren Soto, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Lauren Underwood, Gabe Vasquez, and Nydia Velázquez.
Issues: Immigration
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