Setting margins programmatically wont let me reassign the value each time

I'm trying to set up a layout at runtime that alternates from having a button on the left side of the screen on then the right side. I have an arrayList of button strings and it iterates through, creating a button for each and then applying some styling. Almost all the styling works, except that the margins I'm using to push them to the side of the screen aren't alternating correctly. I'm trying to make the margin push either from the left or the right, but it seems like the buttons are staying within only one column.

Here's the code first of all:

        LayoutParams noteStyle = new LayoutParams((int) getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.sticky_note_height),
                                              (int) getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.sticky_note_width));
    int margin = (int) getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.margin_huge);
    layout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.note_layout);
    int i = 0;
    for (String note : notes){
        Button btnTag;
        if (i % 2 == 0){
            btnTag = (Button) getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.sticky_note_right, null);
            noteStyle.setMargins(margin,0,0,0);
        } else {
            btnTag = (Button) getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.sticky_note_left, null);
            noteStyle.setMargins(0,0,margin,0);
        }
        btnTag.setLayoutParams(noteStyle);
        btnTag.setText(note);
        btnTag.setId(i);
        layout.addView(btnTag);
        ((Button) findViewById(i)).setOnClickListener(this);
        i++;
    }

And here's a screenshot of how it comes out: