On June 26, late in the day, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell refused to issue an injunction against the Montana law that makes it a crime for political parties to endorse candidates in judicial races. The case is Sanders County Republican Central Committee v Bullock, cv12-46-H.

The judge did reject the state’s argument that the party doesn’t have standing to challenge the ban. The state had argued that since the party has no bylaw authorizing such endorsements, therefore the lawsuit should be dismissed. But Judge Lovell said if the party did pass such a bylaw, that alone would be a criminal act, and that the party is not required to pass a bylaw before suing.

The constitutionality of the ban is still not formally settled, and a further hearing will be held on September 25. In the meantime, both sides are likely to collect evidence about the effect of party endorsements in judicial races. That will probably involve research from states with non-partisan judicial elections in which there is no ban on party endorsements.