Committee for an Effective Judiciary v. State

Petitioners are all registered voters in this state. This Court assumed jurisdiction of petitioners’ original petition for declaratory judgment that we hold Sections 3-1-607 and 3-1-608, MCA, unconstitutional because they conflict with Art. VII, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution. Unless a *107district judge or supreme court justice resigns his office, these statutes prevent a district judge from running for any supreme court position, and they also prevent a justice of the supreme court from running for the position of chief justice. (See Appendices A and B for the full text of these…