Elected (nonpartisan)7 justices· 8-year terms· Mont.
Chief: Elected statewide in a nonpartisan election to a distinct chief-justice seat (separate from associate-justice races); midterm vacancies filled by gubernatorial appointment.
Adopted 1972. Its declaration of rights sits in Article II (Declaration of Rights). This court has the final word on what the Montana constitution means.
Primacy, interprets its own constitution first
How a state reads its own rights provisions relative to the federal floor, lockstep vs departure.
State-court structure and selection methods are from official and reference sources; the justice roster is point-in-time. Civibrief carries each state's highest court (lower state courts are out of scope for now).
