Montana Supreme Court

Lawsuit Challenges State Law Banning Vaccine Mandates

Netzer Law Office and Donald Netzer are asking the state Supreme Court to step in to block a law prohibiting employers from mandating vaccines in the workplace. In February, District Court Judge Olivia Regier ruled against the Sidney law firm’s request for a preliminary injunction against Montana’s new law. Last year, it was signed into ...

District Judge Rules In Favor Of Early-Term Abortions In Lawsuit

In 2018 ACLU Montana and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed suit challenging the constitutionality of a Montana law that restricted abortion providers to physicians and physician assistants. Friday, Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike Menahan ruled nurse practitioners and nurse midwives may perform early-term abortions in Mo...

Ballot Initiative To Protect Rivers Reaches Supreme Court

Backers of proposed Citizen Initiative 24 which would prohibit new permits for discharging pollution into portions of the Gallatin and Madison rivers are asking the Montana Supreme Court to reverse a state Attorney General office finding that it amounts to an unconstitutional encroachment on private property. They argue it overstepped in its d...

Montana Supreme Court Administrator Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Deny Appeal

Attorneys for Montana Supreme Court administrator Beth McLaughlin are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to deny an appeal from the Montana Legislature after the state Supreme Court found lawmakers overstepped their authority when they subpoenaed judicial branch records. Lawmakers argue the justices violated their due process rights in their ruling...

Governor Gianforte Expresses Support For State Legislature In Pending Lawsuit

Last December, the state Legislature appealed a state Supreme Court ruling that found lawmakers overstepped their authority when they subpoenaed judicial branch records to the U.S. Supreme Court focusing on whether the justices had the authority to rule on a subpoena for their own communications. Monday, Governor Greg Gianforte argued in a bri...

Montana Legislature Appeals Subpoena Case To Supreme Court

Yesterday, the Montana Legislature and State Attorney General Austin Knudsen appealed a Montana Supreme Court decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that state justices should have excused themselves from a ruling on legislative attempts to acquire internal court documents. This comes following their ruling that the lawmakers did not have ...

Montana Supreme Court To Make Decision On New Abortion Laws

Three laws that soon will be before Montana’s highest court would make it harder for rural residents to access reproductive-health care. Planned Parenthood of Montana’s Martha Stahl says residents already face barriers to accessing medical care and that these bills would force them to travel several hours away to see a doctor in person. https:...

Montana Supreme Court To Rule On Federal Culpability For Sexual Assault Cases

In Montana, if a citizen is sexually assaulted by a state county or municipal law enforcement officer, the victim can sue the agency for which the officer works. But, in Montana, it’s unclear whether that same principle applies to a federal law enforcement agent because the officer is a federal employee. That’s the central question the U.S. Ni...

Montana Supreme Court Denies Subpoena-Power Reconsideration

The Montana Supreme Court has rejected a motion by the GOP-led Montana Legislature to reconsider its July decision which found lawmakers overstepped their authority when they subpoenaed judicial branch records without a legislative purpose. In their Tuesday order the justices wrote their July ruling did not foreclose discussions between the br...