The Case for Judge Dan Wilson in Montana Supreme Court – Seat 4
DATE: October 6, 2026
Author: Charles Garner
In 2022, Attorney General Austin Knudsen warned that our Montana Supreme Court had become “a mess… controlled by the liberal trial lawyers and their Democrat allies.” Four years later, nothing has changed.
Knudsen named three failures of the Montana Supreme Court:
✗ Unaccountable — the Court lobbied against legislation in secret, blocked a subpoena for
its emails, and six of seven justices refused to recuse—ruling to keep their own records from the public.
✗ Activist — justices overturned a 24-year-old law, undercut restitution for crime victims, and “upended decades of precedent” —legislating from the bench.
✗ Captured — activist environmental rulings, and nearly $1,000,000 spent by the Democratic Party and trial lawyers to keep their grip on the last Supreme Court race.
Don’t Democrat Montana!
Judge Amy Eddy was not on that Court, but she wants to be. This race is about judicial philosophy, and her own record places her within the problem Knudsen named, especially a captured court: before the bench, she was president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association, and as an attorney she was one of the counsel for the petitioners in the 2011 atmospheric-trust case, Barhaugh v. Montana—a forerunner of the activist Held ruling.
The causes she has chosen tell voters what philosophy she would bring to the Court.
Montana’s institutional capture continues. In a single month this summer, a Missoula post-office box calling itself “Montanans for Freedom and Responsibility” took in $800,000 to attack Judge Wilson—$550,000 from the Montana Values Action Fund, a progressive political committee, and $250,000 from the trial lawyers’ own PAC (all public record).
Nobody spends money like that on a judge’s race for nothing. Money like that expects a return—and the return the trial lawyers want is a friendlier Supreme Court.
Judge Dan Wilson is the remedy to all three.
• Accountability — he co-chairs the Judicial Standards Commission that holds judges to account.
• Transparency — he calls for open, public oral arguments.
• Restraint — his standard is “facts over feelings and principles above all else—interpret the law, don’t make it.”
• Experience — Thirty years in Montana law, every side of the courtroom.
Dan Wilson is endorsed by the Montana Chamber of Commerce after it interviewed both candidates.
He is the winner of 49 of Montana’s 56 counties in the June primary.
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.
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
Montana Campaign Electronic Reporting System. (2026). Campaign-finance figures pulled from reports on 7/9–8/10/2026.
