The Idaho Freedom Foundation is at it again—attacking judges this time.

Brent Regan, the Board Chairman of the ill-named Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), is at it again. After barely failing to destroy North Idaho College with a culture war campaign, Regan is trying to discredit Idaho’s judiciary. Judges make good targets because they are unable to respond to unfounded attacks against them.

Just a few weeks after Governor Little appointed Coeur d’Alene lawyer Regina McCrea to a district judge position in Kootenai County, Regan has launched a scurrilous attack against her. It has little to do with McCrea’s legal qualifications, which are excellent.

Rather, Regan is steamed because McCrea refused to bend to the demands of his culture war minions to ban books during her tenure as a trustee on the board of the Community Library Network (CLN) in Coeur d’Alene. Regan conducted a vicious campaign against McCrea and another trustee in 2022, causing both to lose their positions. They sued for defamation and the matter was confidentially settled out of court last year. Regan has rekindled his hostilities against McCrea as she readies to assume her seat on the district court. He has enlisted a chorus of extreme IFF voices across the state to unjustifiably tarnish McCrea and the Idaho judicial system.

The IFF is apparently unaware that Idaho judges do not bring a political agenda to their work on the bench. Regardless of their previous political affiliations and views, judges are ethically bound in our state to consider and decide cases in an informed and even-handed fashion. Idaho judges are selected in a manner to elevate those who place their emphasis on following the law wherever it takes them. We select candidates based on their legal competence, not their political history.

Former Governor Butch Otter often said that governors from around the country remarked about the excellence of Idaho’s judicial system. It has remained so to the present day. Decisions are made on their legal merits, not on politics.

Regan and his IFF cohorts want a court system that will serve their political agenda. The State GOP platform calls for the election of judges in a “partisan election” process, despite the fact that the Idaho Constitution requires nonpartisan judicial elections.

Regan’s latest screed against judges and the judicial selection process is riddled with misinformation. He claims that district and appellate court judges run in “retention elections.” That is simply untrue. Magistrate judges, who are appointed by officials and citizens in Idaho’s seven regional judicial districts, run in retention elections where they are uncontested. District and appellate court candidates run in elections where others can run against them. Contested elections are uncommon because judicial salaries are low, compared to private practice lawyers. Even marginal lawyers can make more money in nonjudicial legal positions. If salaries were substantially increased, more candidates would run for judicial positions.

The IFF Chair claims district and appellate court candidates “are prohibited from campaigning or to seek any endorsement.” He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They can and do campaign. Both times I was elected to the Supreme Court, I campaigned across the state even though I did not have an opponent. I thought the voters were entitled to see and hear who was running. During my first campaign, I gathered a wide range of endorsements and that is rather common where there is a contested race. You are just prohibited from seeking or accepting an endorsement from a political organization. A judicial candidate may not personally solicit or accept campaign contributions, but a committee appointed on his or her behalf may do so.

Getting back to Regan’s animus against Regina McCrea, he reiterates the falsehood that she allowed kids to have access to sexually explicit material in CLN libraries, which is simply untrue. He then states that her “duties will include hearing cases in Family Court.” This is more misinformation from the IFF guru. Magistrate judges handle family issues, while district court judges, like McCrea, handle felony prosecutions and higher-dollar civil cases. McCrea has deep experience in those cases and will undoubtedly do a good, even-handed job in deciding them.

The only point that Regan did not get wrong is that there should be some way for voters to learn more about judicial candidates. Where there is an election contest, voters can listen to the candidates and make an informed decision. When there is no contest for a judicial position, it is hard for voters to evaluate the only name that appears on the ballot. I’ve often thought that the Idaho State Bar could help fill in the information gap. Regan and his IFF minions are certainly not up to that task. They do not even bother to check the facts before spewing out their uninformed opinions.

About the Author

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017).