HELENA — For the last month, legislative budget committees have been hearing budget proposals for the next two years from each state agency. This week, leaders with Montana’s judicial branch brought their request – seeking additional funding, particularly to support more judges in Yellowstone County.
“We have to always meet current demand and ensure that we are providing timely and accurate and reliable decisions for the litigants – because in many ways, when we have a court case going on, people's lives are on hold,” said Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Cory Swanson.
The chief justice is an administrator for the judicial branch as a whole, responsible for managing the Supreme Court and supervising lower courts across Montana. Swanson – just elected in November and sworn into office in January – spoke Monday to the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Judicial Branch, Law Enforcement, and Justice.
Overall, the judicial branch is requesting a budget of $137.6 million for the next two years – an increase of about $10.7 million, or 8.5%, over their base budget. One of their biggest requests is to fund three additional district court judges to serve the 13th Judicial District. The district, which only covers Yellowstone County, currently has eight.
Across the state, branch administrators report the number of cases filed in district court has varied over the last ten years, with a low of 54,311 in 2017 and a high of 61,117 in 2020. However, the number of criminal cases has been generally rising over that period, from 10,707 in 2015 to 13,854 in 2024.
In Yellowstone County, the increase in criminal cases has been even more dramatic – from 2,291 in 2015 to 4,012 in 2024.
“In ‘99, when I started, it was probably two or three pages, a typical criminal law and motion calendar,” said District Judge Rod Souza. “What I'm seeing consistently now is sometimes 10 to 12 pages. Criminal law and motion back in ‘99 might take an hour. Now we're starting our law and motion calendar typically at 8:45 or 9:00, and sometimes just going straight through until 1:00, 1:30 p.m.”
Overall, the eight judges in the district handled 11,086 cases in 2024. Judicial branch administrators said there’s been particular growth in child abuse and neglect cases and criminal cases, which take the most time to resolve.
A workload study conducted by the judicial branch that year suggested there was a need for five additional judges in the 13th district. The branch’s budget proposal calls for three, to be appointed and start work in 2026.
Swanson said the need for these judges is real, but that the judicial branch is also working to find other ways to address the problem.
“There's another step that I intend to take, with regard to Yellowstone County, and that is to work with the district judges there to find out how we can manage their caseload better, how they can be more innovative, and how they can do some things to reduce that increased demand,” he said.
Swanson is new to the chief justice position, but said he’s committed to taking a closer look at efficiencies statewide as his eight-year term continues.
“My goal is, once we get through this session, to begin kind of a long-term effort at understanding court operations and how we can innovate, how we can improve efficiency, how we can improve outcomes,” he said.
The subcommittee is set to begin voting on these agency budgets next week.
