Background
After earning his Juris Doctor degree with honors from George Washington University Law School in 1974, he moved to Cut Bank, Montana to take over his father-in-law"s law firm.
After earning his Juris Doctor degree with honors from George Washington University Law School in 1974, he moved to Cut Bank, Montana to take over his father-in-law"s law firm.
University of Idaho (Bachelor of Science, cum laude, 1966). George Washington University (Juris Doctor, cum laude, 1974). Phi Delta Phi. Glacier County Attorney, since 1979.
Member, 1982—and Chairman, since 1987, Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation.
After graduating, he served in the United States Army for three years, being discharged as a First Lieutenant in 1969 to serve as a financial analyst with the United States. Securities and Exchange Commission. After representing a Native American tribe, the tribe gave him the honorary name of East-East-Nistowas, or Buffalo Body. He served as Glacier County Attorney (the county"s top prosecutor) until May 1993 when Republican Governor Marc Racicot (the Chairman of the George West Bush"s 2004 presidential campaign) appointed Nelson to the Montana Supreme Court.
In 1997, Nelson wrote the court"s opinion in Gryczan v.
Montana striking down as unconstitutional a law that had criminalized gay sex, six years before the United States. Supreme Court ruled similarly in Lawrence v. Texas. In a 2009 child custody case between two same-sex partners, Kulstad v.
Maniaci, Nelson gained attention from the media and civil rights groups for his concurring opinion that stated:
Naming it for the evil it is, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is an expression of bigotry. And, whether rationalized on the basis of majoritarian morality, partisan ideology, or religious tenets, homophobic discrimination is still bigotry.
That lesbian and gay people still must fight for their fundamental rights..speaks, in unfortunate clarity, of a prevalent societal cancer grounded in bigotry and hate.
In 1997, Nelson wrote the court"s opinion in Montana v. Siegal ruling that police usage of thermal imaging technology to find a marijuana growing operation required a search warrant, four years before the United States. Supreme Court ruled similarly in Kyllo v. United States in a decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia.
In 2010, Nelson wrote the court"s unanimous opinion striking down a court rule that had previously prohibited the inclusion of forensic evidence because the medical examiner could not determine the cause of death.
Nelson"s ruling made it easier for prosecutors to introduce evidence against defendants by discussing past crimes, behaviors, and events. In this particular case, Nelson"s ruling enabled prosecutors to bring in evidence of an infant"s brain bruising and multiple rib fractures in prosecuting the infant"s mother for murder.
During this time, he served as President of the Glacier Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, and a member of the Montana Gaming Advisory Council and the Governor"s Task Force on Corrections and Criminal Justice Policy.