The Montana Green Party will be back in court on Monday along with the Secretary State’s Office and attorneys representing the Montana Democratic Party. The Democrats are arguing that 180 signatures collected by the Green party and checked by various county election offices are invalid, but Green Party Coordinator Danielle Breck feels the Democrats have alternative reasons for wanting the Green Party off the ballot.

"It kind of caught me off guard when I looked at the prestige of the out of state law firm the Democratic Party that has hired," Breck said. "They have hired Perkins Coie, who among many other things, is the international law firm that defended the Democratic National Committee against the class action law suit that the Bernie supporters brought."

Breck says the legal action is an attempt to “silence progressive voices” and claims the Green Party will press on even if the case gets appealed later.

"This massive law firm, that the democrats call on whenever they feel like it’s strategically important for them, has come in and is kind of bullying the itty-bitty Montana Green Party, which is interesting," Breck said. "We don’t feel like it’s something that we can really in good faith back down from, because those signatures were valid and those people meant it. The 10,000 people who signed that petition have the right to vote for the Green Party in Montana."

Breck says on Monday the Green Party will present its own witnesses in court on Monday, April 30, she says some of the 180 people whose signatures are in question will testify publicly.

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