2022 Montana Supreme Court Voters Guide

Bill D'Alton (N)

D’Alton is an attorney in private practice at the D’Alton Law Firm. He graduated from the University of Montana School of Law and, before joining private practice, worked as a public defender. If elected, D’Alton promises to serve only one eight-year term and his campaign “will not accept any money from potential donors.”

Jim Rice (N)

Justice Rice currently serves on the Montana Supreme Court. He was appointed by then Governor Martz in 2001 and is the longest serving justice. Rice is a former Republican Montana state representative and former Chairman of the state Board of Personnel Appeals. After graduating from the University of Montana School of Law, Rice worked as a public defender and later was a partner at the firm Jackson & Rice.

Bill D'Alton (N)

• D’Alton has not served as a judge.

Jim Rice (N)

• In the Court’s recent voting rights case, Rice voted against reinstating election-day voter registration, and would have allowed new voter identification requirements to go into effect for the November 2022 election.
• Rice voted to enforce three abortion laws relating to abortion while the courts review the laws. These laws would ban abortion after 20 weeks, require an ultrasound before an abortion, and restrict medication abortion.
• In 2019, he also would have allowed a ban on qualified nurses performing abortions to go into effect.
• In a case brought by parents challenging school mask requirements, Rice voted with the unanimous Court to allow schools to issue mask mandates.
• Rice voted in June 2022 to overturn provisions of a state law that allowed permit-less concealed carry on college campuses. In 2019, he voted to invalidate Missoula’s ordinance that would have expanded background checks on gun sales.
• Rice voted to retain a law that allowed tax credits for donations to private religious schools.

Bill D'Alton (N)

• D’Alton has expressed disapproval of how the judicial and legislative branches have handled their disagreements, stating that the dispute is causing Montanans to lose “confidence in the judicial system.”
• He also indicated concern about the prominence of special interest money in judicial elections and has not accepted any money from donors.
• D’Alton has not expressed an opinion on abortion, but said the state Supreme Court’s precedent preserving abortion access “is the law.”

Jim Rice (N)

• In 2014, Rice disagreed with the S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizen’s United, which allowed unlimited independent corporate spending in federal elections.
• In an ongoing power struggle between the legislature and the judicial branch, Justice Rice sued the state legislature to prevent seizure of the justices’ private cell phone records. A former member of the state House of Representatives,  Rice said, “It was hard to sue the legislature.”
• Rice believes that there has been increased government involvement in the lives of citizens, and “courts will need to be increasingly vigilant in protecting individual liberties in the years ahead.”

Bill D'Alton (N)

The authors of this guide were unable to locate any endorsements for D’Alton.

Jim Rice (N)

Rice is endorsed by Montana Conservation Voters.