Montana’s supreme court is improperly using the attorney discipline system, which it controls, as a weapon in a political dispute.
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Not content merely to harass Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen with a bogus 41-count ethics charge in retaliation for his representation of the state legislature in a 2021 legal battle over judicial reform legislation (as previously reported here), the left-of-center Montana Supreme Court — through the attorney discipline apparatus it controls — is proposing a 90-day suspension of Knudsen’s law license. It does so two weeks before Election Day, and Knudsen, a Republican, is running for re-election. Not surprisingly, Knudsen’s Democratic opponent is using the disciplinary proceedings against Knudsen as a campaign issue. How convenient.
The state supreme court’s vindictive motivation is evident by the timing of the proposed discipline, and the fact that in May 2022 “a previously appointed special prosecutor had recommended a different sanction — only a private admonition,” according to the Daily Montanan.
