By Michael Howell
Hamilton attorney Robert Myers, a candidate for District Court Judge, has filed charges in federal court in Missoula against Shaun Thompson in his official capacity as Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State of Montana over that office’s investigation of a radio ad he placed attacking the incumbent Judge Jeffrey Langton during the primary elections.
In the ad, former Ravalli County resident Dan Cox made allegations that he “caught Judge Jeff Langton committing fraud on the court” by having secret ex parte communications with opposing attorneys in the case, which had to do with a parenting dispute between Cox and his wife. Cox claims that he was wrongly denied a chance to respond and present his case.
“Shame on Jeff Langton for retaliating against my lawyer, and shame on Jeff Langton for not giving me and my children a fair hearing,” it states in a transcript of the ad.
Myers, who is being represented in his suit by attorney Matthew Monforton, is asking the federal court to declare portions of the state’s codes of judicial and professional conduct unconstitutional.
“The regulations underlying the State’s investigation prohibit attorneys from making statements about judges the State deems to be false. These regulations violate the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, both on their face and as applied to Plaintiff Myers. Judicial candidates should not be forced to choose between exercising their fundamental right to criticize their opponents or keeping their law licenses,” wrote Monforton.
He claims that Myers would like to run the ad again in the November election but is being restrained out of fear of prosecution under these unconstitutional rules.
“The State’s outrageous intimidation of a candidate for judicial office simply because he criticized the incumbent judge is having its intended effect. Fear of discipline, including possible suspension or disbarment, is causing Plaintiff Myers to refrain from rebroadcasting the campaign advertisement triggering the State’s investigation,” wrote Monforton.
The case being referred to by Cox is the same case in which Judge Langton sanctioned Myers, who was serving as Cox’s attorney, and fined him $10,000. Myers in that case accused the plaintiff, her attorney and her professional witness, as well as Judge Langton, of committing crimes during the trial. The sanction was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court.
Myers is seeking an injunction in federal court to stop the state from pursuing its case against him until a decision is made about the constitutionality of the laws involved.