Justices on Legal Services

As current and former Justices of the Montana Supreme Court, we write to express our deep concern with the proposal to eliminate funding for the Legal Services Corporation and the Corporation for National and Community Service. These programs are critical partners in ensuring that the Montana justice system meets the Constitution’s command to “establish Justice . . . and secure the Blessings of Liberty” to all Montanans.

For 50 years, the Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) has provided civil legal aid to Montanans with basic human needs. MLSA helps protect domestic violence victims and obtain support for their children; secure housing for veterans; relieve seniors from consumer scams; and obtain access to justice in rural Montana where few, if any, other legal services are available.

And for nearly a decade, dozens of AmeriCorps members have devoted a year or two years of service to Montana’s Court Help Program, giving tens of thousands of Montanans legal information to help understand and navigate the court system to resolve their own legal issues when they cannot afford an attorney.

Together, these programs help meet a vital need in a Montana court system that is simply overwhelmed with record-setting caseloads, self-represented litigants and alarming increases in time-intensive cases involving abused and neglected children. When people show up in court unprepared and with their lives in crisis, the system becomes inefficient and hurts all court users. Because children and families in crisis take the courts’ priority, other cases move to the back of the line, and justice waits.

The plain truth is that MLSA and AmeriCorps’ Justice For Montanans Program are an incredibly effective use of a small amount of federal dollars that deliver results to Montana every day. Our justice system depends on them, as partners with the courts, the private bar, and non-profit community organizations to address the demands on Montana courts and to achieve our Nation’s promise of Justice for All.

We encourage your strong support for current-level funding of the Legal Services Corporation and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Signatories to this column include Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath, Justice Beth Baker, Justice Laurie McKinnon, Justice Michael E. Wheat, Justice Dirk Sandefur, Justice James Jeremiah Shea, Justice Jim Rice, Ret. Justice Patricia Cotter, Ret. Justice James C. Nelson, Ret. Justice W. William Leaphart, Ret. Justice John Warner, Ret. Justice Jim Regnier, Ret. Justice Terry N. Trieweiler, Ret. Justice Russell C. McDonough and Ret. Justice John C. Sheehy.