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James Rice (Montana)
This is the page for the justice of the Montana Supreme Court. If you are looking for the municipal court judge from Tennessee, please see: Jim Rice (Tennessee).
2001 - Present
2030
24
James A. Rice (also known as Jim) is a judge of the Montana Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2001. His current term ends on December 31, 2030.
Rice ran for re-election for judge of the Montana Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Rice first became a member of the Montana Supreme Court through a gubernatorial appointment. He was first appointed to the court in 2001 by Gov. Judy Martz (R).[1] To read more about judicial selection in Montana, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] Rice received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Before joining the court, he served three terms in the Montana House of Representatives.
Biography
Rice received a B.A. in political science from Montana State University in 1979 and his J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law in 1982.[4] Before becoming a judge, Rice worked as a public defender in Lewis and Clark County and was a partner in the firm of Jackson & Rice.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Montana Supreme Court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent James A. Rice defeated Bill D'Alton in the general election for Montana Supreme Court on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | James A. Rice (Nonpartisan) | 77.5 | 307,270 |
 | Bill D'Alton (Nonpartisan)  | 22.5 | 89,008 | |
| Total votes: 396,278 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent James A. Rice and Bill D'Alton advanced from the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | James A. Rice (Nonpartisan) | 76.2 | 189,101 |
| ✔ | | Bill D'Alton (Nonpartisan) | 23.8 | 59,168 |
| Total votes: 248,269 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2014
- See also: Montana judicial elections, 2014
Rice ran for re-election to the Montana Supreme Court.
Primary: He was successful in the primary on June 3rd, 2014, receiving 76.2 percent of the vote. He competed against W. David Herbert.
General: He defeated W. David Herbert in the general election on November 4, 2014, receiving 78.2 percent of the vote.[6]
2006
Rice was retained to the supreme court by voters in 2006, winning 84% of votes.[7]
2002
He was retained to the supreme court by voters in 2002, winning 85% of votes.[8]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James A. Rice did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
James
Rice
Montana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Held political office as a Republican
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
Partisan Profile
Details:
Rice donated $13,099 to Republican candidates. From 1989 through 1994 he was a Republican state representetive, in the Montana House of Representetives. He was the majority whip in the 1993 session. He was a registered Republican prior to 2020. He was appointed to the court by Gov. Judy Martz (R) in 2001 when Montana was a Republican trifecta.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Rice received a campaign finance score of 0.58, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of -0.87 that justices received in Montana.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[11]
State supreme court judicial selection in Montana
- See also: Judicial selection in Montana
The seven justices on the Montana Supreme Court are selected through nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. When their terms expire, justices must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court. If unopposed, a justice must stand for a yes-no retention election.[12][13]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.[12]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected through a nonpartisan election to an eight-year term.[12]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor is responsible for appointing a new justice to the court. Once confirmed by the Montana state Senate, the justice will hold office until the next regular election. At that time, the appointed justice will be able to run for re-election or retention to complete the remainder of the unexpired term.[13]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Judicial selection in Montana
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "James Rice's Biography," accessed April 14, 2014
- ↑ State Law Library of Montana, "Biographies and Histories of Montana’s Justices, Judges, and Courts," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2014 Primary Election Results," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2006 General Election Results," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2002 General Election Results," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed August 11, 2021
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Montana State Legislature, "The Constitution of the state of Montana," accessed August 11, 2021 (Article VII, part VII, section 8)
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Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
