HELENA — Montana’s commissioner of political practices will remain in office until a state judge rules on a lawsuit seeking to keep Commissioner Jonathan Motl in office for a full six-year term.

District Judge Kathy Seeley approved an agreement Wednesday allowing Motl to disregard the Jan. 1 termination date set by Gov. Steve Bullock when he appointed Motl in May 2013. Bullock appointed Motl to complete the final three years of a six-year term that also included three other Democratic appointees who were not confirmed by the state Senate.

The lawsuit filed earlier this month argues that Motl’s appointment and confirmation creates a new six-year term that should expire in mid-2019. The plaintiffs are Democratic Sen. Christine Kaufmann, departing Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, former Republican Rep. Jesse O’Hara, Al Smith of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association and a group called Montanans for Experienced Judges.

The agreement between the plaintiffs’ lawyer, James Goetz, and Bullock attorney Andrew Huff noted the difficulty of arranging a court hearing during the holiday season prior to the Jan. 1 expiration of Motl’s term. The deal approved by Seeley agrees that the governor won’t enforce the term’s expiration and that Motl will stay on until the judge makes a ruling on the plaintiffs’ argument or decides to dissolve the agreement.

The commissioner’s office enforces campaign and ethics laws, and has been the subject of intense partisan wrangling when past appointments were made. Jan. 1 marks six years since the last confirmed commissioner, Dennis Unsworth, left office after a full term.

Motl said Friday that he wants to stay on, and that the case will affect the appointment of future commissioners.

“I think this issue is extremely important to determine and it’s bigger than my term,” he said. “I’m going to do what is best for this office and for future commissioners.”

Following Unsworth, then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer appointed Jennifer Hensley, who was not confirmed by the Senate. Schweitzer appointed Dave Gallik to the post in 2011, but he resigned amid a dispute with the commissioner’s staff over running his law practice out of the state agency.

Jim Murry was Schweitzer’s final appointment in 2012, and he resigned a year later because he did not expect to be confirmed by the Senate.

Motl was appointed by Bullock to serve out the remainder of the six-year term that began with Hensley’s appointment. Republicans opposed the Helena lawyer’s appointment because of his past work on state ballot initiatives and past donations to Democratic candidates, but he was confirmed in 2015 when eight GOP senators broke ranks to vote with 21 Democrats.

Since his appointment, Motl and his staff have cleared a backlog of campaign complaints, created regulations requiring more campaign disclosures by candidates and brought a high-profile case against a sitting legislator, Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman.

A jury found that Wittich took illegal campaign contributions from an anti-union organization and its affiliates.

Wittich denied any wrongdoing and appealed to the Montana Supreme Court, where the case is pending.