Montana Supreme Court allows abortion ballot proposal to proceed
After two months of litigation and consideration, the Montana Supreme Court on Monday overruled the state attorney general’s January finding that a constitutional initiative to explicitly protect abortion rights is “legally insufficient,” resolving one of many obstacles to the proposal being placed before voters on the November ballot.
The ruling, signed by six of the court’s seven justices and authored by Justice Ingrid Gustafson, found that the proposal submitted last fall by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana did not improperly “logroll” distinct subjects together and that Attorney General Austin Knudsen exceeded his authority by concluding that the proposal would confuse voters and conflict with other sections of the Constitution — a conclusion that could have blocked the proposal from proceeding.
“CI-14 effects a single change to the Montana Constitution on a single subject: the right to make decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion. If CI-14 is placed on the ballot, voters may ultimately agree or disagree with the proposed change that CI-14 offers, but they will be able to understand what they are being asked to vote upon because CI-14 does not effect two or more changes that are not substantive and closely related,” Gustafson wrote. “If CI-14 is adopted, questions may arise as to its interpretation, but this is true of the entire text of the Montana Constitution and its subsequent amendments, and processes exist to resolve those questions accordingly.”
Gustafson’s 16-page ruling also found that Knudsen was legally incorrect to write a fiscal note to accompany the proposal when the state’s Office of Budget and Program Planning found that the initiative’s fiscal impact could not be determined.......
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While the ruling settles an initial round of opposition to putting the abortion question before voters, the proposal’s future is far from clear. In order to gain access to the ballot, the campaign backing the initiative, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, must finalize ballot statement language with the attorney general’s office, pass that language through a legislative committee review, and collect and submit more than 60,000 verified signatures to county election administrators before June 21.
https://montanafreepress.org/2024/03/18/montana-supreme-court-allows-abortion-ballot-proposal-to-proceed/
