Montana's Supreme Court dismisses misconduct case against the state's attorney general

BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana's Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a misconduct case against the state's attorney general after he defied court orders in a dispute over a law that gave the governor more power over the judiciary.

A court-appointed panel last year found that Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen repeatedly attacked the integrity of the justices in his defense of a 2021 law permitting the state's Republican governor to directly fill judicial vacancies.

The panel had recommended that Knudsen's license to practice law be suspended for 90 days.

Justices agreed in Wednesday's ruling that Knudsen had violated rules of professional conduct for attorneys. But the court said the panel that handled the case violated Knudsen's due process rights by excluding his expert witness and failing to adequately explain its decision against him.

Knudsen had urged the high court to dismiss the case. He said in a statement Wednesday that the complaint against him had been a distraction.

''I appreciate the Supreme Court bringing this frivolous complaint to a long-overdue conclusion,'' Knudsen said. ''We've said it from the very beginning, this was nothing more than a political stunt.''

Chief Justice Cory Swanson wrote that Wednesday's order amounted to a ''public admonition'' over Knudsen's misconduct.

The dispute between Montana's chief law enforcement officer and its high court centered on a law that was part of a nationwide GOP effort to forge a more conservative judiciary and was eventually upheld by Montana's Supreme Court.

In his defense of the Legislature and the 2021 law, Knudsen's office in court filings accused Supreme Court justices of judicial misconduct, corruption, self-dealing, ''actual impropriety'' and having a conflict of interest.

Following a complaint against Knudsen, the 13-member panel — a group of lawyers and others known as the Commission on Practice of the Montana Supreme Court — determined that the attorney general's office ''repeatedly, consistently and undeniably,'' violated professional conduct rules.

Knudsen had argued that any punishment should have been handled privately.

Swanson wrote Wednesday that the extensive litigation in the case was ''far worse'' than a private admonition that had been previously considered.

Six of the seven sitting justices rejected the recommendation to suspend Knudsen, with only Bidegaray dissenting. She said Knudsen's actions merited a public censure and 30-day suspension.

''Erasing a complete disciplinary record is inconsistent with our constitutional responsibility and our precedent,'' Bidegaray wrote. ''Discipline is not punitive; it is protective—of the public, the courts, and the profession—and serves to preserve confidence in the fair and orderly administration of justice.''

The court unanimously rejected Knudsen's claims that as Montana's attorney general he was exempt from the disciplinary proceedings against him. Swanson wrote that it would be ''unwise'' to allow the attorney general to supervise hundreds of attorneys while exempting him from basic ethical standards of the profession.

Knudsen acknowledged during a hearing last fall that a lot of things should have been done differently in representing the Legislature over the extent of its subpoena powers.