September 19, 2003 - The Missoulian: Fiji RPCV Cindy Younkin in race for Montana Supreme Court

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Fiji: Peace Corps Fiji : The Peace Corps in Fiji: September 19, 2003 - The Missoulian: Fiji RPCV Cindy Younkin in race for Montana Supreme Court

By Admin1 (admin) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 9:52 am: Edit Post

Fiji RPCV Cindy Younkin in race for Montana Supreme Court



Fiji RPCV Cindy Younkin in race for Montana Supreme Court

Bozeman's Rep. Younkin to run for seat
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON Missoulian State Bureau


HELENA, MONTANA - Rep. Cindy Younkin, R-Bozeman, launched her campaign Thursday for Montana Supreme Court justice by promising to strictly interpret laws and by criticizing the current court majority for overturning too many precedents and district court rulings.

Younkin announced her candidacy before some supporters in front of the Justice Building. She is running as a nonpartisan candidate in 2004 for the seat held by Justice Jim Nelson, who is seeking re-election.

"The Montana Supreme Court has no business making laws or policy," said Younkin, 44. "I will interpret the law and the constitution impartially as a judge, without writing new laws based upon personal ideological beliefs. I've been a legislator, and I believe it is inappropriate for the court to rewrite laws rather than interpret laws."

In watching the court and reading its opinions, "there are some startling patterns that are disturbing to me," she said. The majority's tendency to overturn Supreme Court precedents and strike down district court rulings makes it hard for lawyers to advise their clients, Younkin said.

"Practicing attorneys aren't sure what the court would do next," she said.

Asked if her criticism applied to Nelson, Younkin said, "Obviously, if I were satisfied with the job he were doing I wouldn't be running."

In response, Nelson, who has been on the court since 1993, said: "We overturn precedents when the law changes or when we have conflicting precedents." Nelson said Montanans can read every opinion he's written through a link on his campaign Web site at nelsonforjustice.home. bresnan.net.

"I would urge the public to compare my record as a judge with hers as an attorney and as a legislator," Nelson said.



Cindy Younkin, worked as a medical technician in the Fiji Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1984 to 1986.

Younkin, a House majority whip the past two sessions, was asked whether she could drop her role as a partisan advocate in the Legislature to become an impartial judge. She said the two jobs are entirely different.

"I will not promote an agenda and I will not review a case with a preconceived notion of what I believe the law or policy should be," she said, adding: "I have served six years in the policymaking branch of government and am ready to trade in my legislator hat for a judicial robe."

As a legislator, Younkin said, she opposed a proposal to create an intermediate appeals court between district courts and the Montana Supreme Court at a startup cost of $20 million. She was concerned about the cost to taxpayers and to lawyers' clients to have another court to take appeals. She suggested the Supreme Court's caseload would drop significantly if its rulings were more predictable.

Younkin said she opposes opening up the court's twice-weekly, closed-door conferences where justices vote on cases.

"I think having a roomful of people tends to have an effect on what is said," she said.

Younkin, a Nebraska native who moved to Montana as a young girl with her family, earned a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Montana State University in 1982 and a law degree from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., in 1989. She worked as a medical technician in the Fiji Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1984 to 1986.

She has practiced law in the Bozeman firm of Moore, O'Connell & Refling for 14 years, initially focusing on water rights, then real estate law and more recently estate planning. Younkin was chairwoman of the Montana Board of Environmental Review from 1995 to 1998.



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Story Source: The Missoulian

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Fiji; Law; Politics

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