Fixing the Montana Supreme Court
The Case for Judge Dan Wilson in Montana Supreme Court – Seat 4
DATE: September 28, 2026
Author: Charles Garner
In 2022, Montana’s Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, wrote to his fellow Montanans in a letter and got straight to the point:
“The Montana Supreme Court is a mess, and it’s having disastrous consequences for our state.” Attorney General Austin Knudsen, 2022
Case by case, he laid out how the MT Supreme Court has long been “controlled by the liberal trial lawyers and their Democrat allies” and had lost its way. That was four years ago. The names on the ballot have changed, but the problems have not, if anything, they have deepened.
We want to remind voters of the same case happening here and now in the 2026 race for Supreme Court Seat 4, where Montanans must choose between District Judge Amy Eddy and Judge Dan Wilson.
What the Attorney General Documented
Knudsen’s indictment came down to three failures, and every one still stands today.
First, a failure of accountability and transparency.
He recounted how leaked emails revealed members of the MT Supreme Court and other judges “routinely took positions on bills” and lobbied against legislation during the 2021 session. Then, when a subpoena sought the documents, the MT Supreme Court blocked it. As he wrote, six of the seven justices refused to recuse themselves from a case in which they had a direct personal interest, ruling “in its own favor to keep their emails from reaching the legislature or the public.” A Court that shields itself from the people has forgotten whom it serves and answers to.
Second, a failure of restraint, legislating from the bench.
Knudsen cataloged justices who “overturned a law that had been on the books for 24 years,” went against legislative intent on restitution, “making it harder for crime victims to be made whole,” and “upended decades of precedent” on time served. These decisions, he argued, put the Court’s policy preferences above the law and, too often, criminals above their victims.
Third, a Court captured by special interests.
He pointed to activist environmental rulings and to the raw money behind it all. In the last contested Supreme Court race, he noted, “the Montana Democratic Party and their trial lawyer buddies spent nearly $1,000,000” to hold their grip on the Court. The same machine is at work again this fall 2026.
Why Court Reform Is on the Ballot Again
Here candor matters. This race is not about the past acts of other justices, it is about the judicial philosophy that produced them, and which candidate will carry it onto the bench.
On that question, Judge Eddy’s own public record places her squarely within the tradition Knudsen warned about. Before she took the district bench, Amy Eddy served as president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association, the very constituency the Attorney General identified as holding sway over the Court. And as an attorney, she took part in the 2011 petition asking Montana’s courts to treat the atmosphere as a “public trust” and compel state action on emissions. An early version of the activist environmental reasoning later embraced in the Held decision, precisely the kind of court-made policy Knudsen cataloged.
Her public campaign-finance records still reflect political contributions to Democratic causes and candidates. The causes a candidate has chosen, and the company she has led, tell voters something about the philosophy she will bring to the highest court in the state.
The Remedy – Judge Dan Wilson
For each of the three failures, Dan Wilson is the remedy.
That is why this race is vitally important.
Where the Court has been unaccountable, Wilson has built his service on accountability: he co-chairs Montana’s Judicial Standards Commission, the very body charged with holding judges to account and preserving the integrity of the courts.
Where the Court has worked in the shadows, Wilson calls for sunlight: more open, public oral arguments so Montanans can watch their justices’ reason in the open.
And where the Court has legislated from the bench, his standard is plain:
“Facts over feelings and principles above all else.”
Interpret the law, do not make it.
– Judge Dan Wilson
He brings the record to back it up.
With more than three decades in Montana law, he has seen the justice system from every side of the courtroom: prosecutor, criminal-defense attorney, civil lawyer, justice of the peace, and district court judge.
The Montana Chamber of Commerce endorsed him in 2026 after interviewing both candidates. A fellow district judge has written that Wilson “follows the law, without ideological bias.”
And Montanans have already spoken once: in the June primary when Dan Wilson carried 49 of Montana’s 56 counties. The margin that separated the candidates statewide came down to just a handful of counties, which means this race will be determined, for better or worse, by voter turnout.
The Clock Is Already Running Out
General Knudsen closed his 2022 letter with a line worth repeating:
“I will not stand idly by while the Democrats and their allies try to buy another spot on the Montana Supreme Court.”
Attorney General Austin Knudsen, 2022
Neither should we and this year the clock is shorter than most people realize.
Ballots go in the mail on October 9.
Most Montanans vote by mail, which means much of this race will be decided well before November 3.
So when your ballot arrives, please show up and vote. Be sure to read ALL THE WAY DOWN to the nonpartisan section and mark Dan Wilson for Supreme Court, Seat 4.
Your ballot must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, a postmark is not enough.
A Court can be restored to the people it serves.
It begins with one seat, one ballot,
and a vote carried all the way to the ballot box.Paid for by Lake County Republican Central Committee
References
This appeal draws on quotes from the 2022 letter of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, adapted and used with his permission.
Knudsen, A. (2022). Letter from Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen on the Montana Supreme Court [Letter]. Leadership In Action PAC (LIAPAC)
Montana Chamber of Commerce. (2026, May 14). Business brief: MT Chamber endorses in Supreme Court. https://montanachamber.com/2026/05/14/business-brief-mt-chamber-endorses-in-supreme-court-plans-to-host-more-data-center-webinars
Montana Secretary of State. (2022). 2022 general election results: State Supreme Court. https://electionresults.mt.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=SCJ&map=CTY
Judge Eddy’s professional background, her service as president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association and her participation as an attorney in the 2011 atmospheric-trust petition is drawn from public record.
Montana Voter Guide. (2026). Judges 2026. https://www.montanavoterguide.com/judges-2026
