ACLU plans to spend $1.3M in educate Montana voters about state Supreme Court candidates

— The American Civil Liberties Union plans to spend $1.3 million on campaign advertising to educate Montana voters about where state Supreme Court candidates stand on abortion and other civil rights issues with a measure constitutionally protecting protect abortion access also on the ballot. The ACLU wants to make sure voters know where Supreme Court candidates stand on those issues “so that they can cast an informed ballot this November,” Deernose said. Money has increasingly poured into state Supreme Court races in recent years, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and sent the abortion issue back to states, said Mike Milov-Cordoba of the Brennan Center for Justice. Milov-Cordoba said he wouldn’t be surprised to see similar spending this year, “especially given the conservatives’ frustration with the Montana Supreme Court pushing back on unconstitutional laws.” The ACLU ads and mailers note that chief justice candidate Jerry Lynch and associate justice candidate Katherine Bidegaray agree with the analysis in a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that found the state’s constitutional right to privacy protects the right to a pre-viability abortion from the provider of the patient’s choice.