The Montana State Capitol in Helena on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (Photo by Mike Clark for the Daily Montanan)
Editor’s note: This story contains language that may not be suitable for readers of all ages.
A group of 19 Republican state senators, led by Sen. John Fuller of Kalispell, is asking the State Bar of Montana to issue an apology for partisan attacks against Republicans in Montana made by a lawyer and the organization’s alleged endorsement of the remarks.
In a letter sent to State Bar President Toni Tease last week, the senators objected to disparaging remarks and name calling made by a Montana lawyer during a panel hosted by the State Bar this spring, and said the Bar’s sponsorship of the seminar amounted to “implicit endorsement” of the remarks. They request Tease appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 7 to respond to the letter.
In a call with the Daily Montanan, Tease said the organization’s executive committee had not yet discussed the letter or any response, but said she intends to appear before the Judiciary Committee. She added that individual lawyers do not represent the positions of the organization at large.
The lawyer, Jim Goetz, said he was speaking on his own behalf and not as a representative for the State Bar.
The move is the latest in a series of actions taken by Republican lawmakers who have expressed frustrations in recent years at alleged biases throughout the judicial branch of government, including the Montana Supreme Court, State Bar, and Office of Disciplinary Council.
At one of the Bar’s continuing legal education (CLE) seminars in April, there was a panel for lawyers called “Portraits in Courage-Unpopular Causes and Representing the Unrepresentable,” moderated by Montana Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon. The panel, one of eight seminars and forums on the day’s agenda, featured three attorneys — Randy Cox, Goetz and Mark Werner — and a retired Billings district judge, Michael Moses.
During the panel, Goetz, an attorney known for his work helping establish Montana’s stream access laws and who argued recent successful cases against the state and GOP-controlled legislature, criticized Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, the legislature and the Montana Supreme Court.
In the letter, the senators pointed to comments made by Goetz deriding a recent Supreme Court decision as a “piece of shit,” calling Gianforte, “Gianforeskin,” and labeling some laws passed by the legislature as “pieces of garbage” that “should be stricken,” which they called “hypocritical attacks on the Republican Party at a state bar-sponsored event while surrounded by a sympathetic panel, including a supreme court justice, retired judge and several hand-picked lawyers.”
“The state bar certainly should not tolerate or sanction such conduct at its events,” the letter states. “Accordingly, we call on the state bar to apologize to its members, the Republican Party and Governor Gianforte for Mr. Goetz’s conduct. We also request that the state bar publish guidelines for future bar presentations that encourage a diversity of offered viewpoints, including speakers who argue that separation of governmental powers is central to our constitution and the judiciary’s role is to say what the law is, not what it should be.”
The letter from the legislators asks State Bar President Tease to respond with an apology and guidelines by Jan. 6; publish the letter and the Bar response in the next issue of The Montana Lawyer and distribute it to all State Bar members; and requests Tease appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan 7.
“This particular program took place eight months ago. Comments made by panelists do not reflect positions of the State Bar, nor does the individual hold any leadership position in the State Bar,” Tease told the Daily Montanan.
She added that she was not president this spring, did not attend the seminar and was not part of the planning of it.
All practicing Montana lawyers are required to be members of the Montana State Bar, which was created by order of the Montana Supreme Court to maintain standards of integrity and conduct of members and provide continuing legal education to members, among other purposes.
Tease said that two different groups within the organization handle education; the Continuing Legal Education Commission, which sets standard for continuing education and is appointed by the state supreme court; and the CLE Institute, a State Bar committee charged with preparing, sponsoring and administering the CLE programs.
“The reality is most CLE programs aren’t political by nature,” she said. “Political affiliation isn’t ever a reason behind selecting speakers.”
Goetz was not initially scheduled to be a member of the panel in question. He was invited to join the panel the day of the seminar by Justice McKinnon, after concerns that one other participant might not show up in time.
“The Bar had no idea what I was going to say,” Goetz told the Daily Montanan. “The Bar is not in the business of censoring, and it’s foolish to try to make it appear that my comments were anything but my own private comments.”
Goetz added that he thought the legislators were using him as a “pawn” to defend the conduct of Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
Earlier this year, the Office of Disciplinary Council filed a complaint alleging 41 counts of professional misconduct against Knudsen, and a Commission on Practice adjudication panel recommended the Montana Supreme Court suspend Knudsen’s law license for 90 days.
The senators’ letter compares the statements made by Goetz and Knudsen, saying that Knudsen’s comments “that the ODC considers rule breaking are much less inflammatory than Mr. Goetz’s own statements.”
The misconduct complaints against Knudsen found he and his staff undermined public confidence in the judiciary by “attempting to evade the authority of the Montana Supreme Court and assaulting the integrity of the judiciary and the individual Justices who were duly elected by Montana citizens to make decisions.”
A copy of the senators’ letter was sent to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel with a request that they investigate Goetz’s conduct, “using the same standard they applied to the Republican Attorney General.
The letter insinuates that the ODC is also a partisan organization — “a wholly controlled subsidiary of the Montana Supreme Court” — and that the state’s highest court has a “long history of hostility toward the Republican Party and conservatives. As an example, the letter points to three decades of appointments to the state’s redistricting commission, which were described as “undeniable, consistent and intentional appointment of Democratic donors in this hyper-political process.”
The senators’ request for guidelines of future bar presentations includes encouraging “a diversity of offered viewpoints, including speakers who argue that separation of governmental powers is central to our constitution and the judiciary’s role is to say what the law is, not what it should be.”
Tease told the Daily Montanan that she agreed with the sentiment of encouraging a diverse set of viewpoints in the State Bar’s education programs.
“The State bar’s written policies acknowledge it is an organization of individuals with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints,” she said. “I take pride that our organization is a big tent. We have members from all over the state with a range of political views.”
Tease also quoted from an email she sent to members earlier this month that the Montana State Bar is “fully prepared to engage constructively and effectively on legislative matters,” during the upcoming legislative session.
During the first week of January, the Montana State Bar will take part in an optional legislator training, “Law School for Legislators,” which will also feature faculty from the University of Montana Law School, Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, Montana Supreme Court justices, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich, Attorney General Knudsen and the legislature’s legal director, Todd Everts.
Republicans on the interim Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform will introduce more than two dozen bills in the 2025 legislative session aimed at reigning in the judiciary, including a bill by Sen. Fuller to make membership with the State Bar voluntary.
Editor’s note: The Daily Montanan is party to a lawsuit with other news organizations who have retained the law firm Goetz, Geddes, & Gardner, P.C. as outside counsel.