News & Opinions
Please note that opinions posted here are not necessarily opinions of The Friends of the Montana Constitution, a 501c3 nonprofit. The views and opinions expressed below are those of the authors listed and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
News
November 10, 2022 / News
‘Born alive’ Act fails to gain support in Montana
Legislative Referendum 131, a lawmaker-proposed measure known as the “Born Alive” Act that would have purportedly required doctors to save any infant born alive after a late-term abortion, failed to garner enough support to become law.
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September 20, 2022 / News
District Court judge rules three laws, including trans-athlete ban, unconstitutional
A district court judge struck down three laws that passed in the 2021 Montana Legislature related to college campuses, ruling them unconstitutional, according to a filing in Gallatin County last week.
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September 16, 2022 / News
ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights file suit to strike down Montana abortion restriction
The Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union in Montana have asked the Montana Supreme Court to uphold a Lewis and Clark district court judge’s ruling that advanced practice registered nurses can perform abortions in the state.
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September 2, 2022 / News
University of Montana law professor, former solicitor, nominated to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
University of Montana law professor and constitutional scholar Anthony Johnstone has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the White House announced Friday.
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August 23, 2022 / News
State rep testifies GOP leadership wanted laws to make it harder for youth to vote in Montana
It is the best of times and the worst of times in Montana.
However, which one of those statements is true depends on which elections officials you speak with, and it is at the heart of a two-week trial being conducted in Yellowstone County District Court where three laws passed by the 2021 Legislature that regulate voting in Montana are being challenged as unconstitutional.
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Opinion
January 10, 2023 / Opinion
Montana supermajority may put state’s constitution on the chopping block
Those who value Montana’s Constitution are concerned—terrified, actually—of what the Legislature’s supermajority (and its new Freedom Caucus) are going to try to do to it this session.
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January 6, 2023 / Opinion
Our New Year challenge: Keeping Montana Montana
Unlike in normal years, the 2023 Legislature finds itself wallowing in a fiscal surplus caused by massive infusions of money from the federal government that so many of the incoming legislators continually denigrate.
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December 27, 2022 / Opinion
Proposed legislative rule change undermines constitution, invites corruption
n the early 1970s, something revolutionary happened. Everyday Montanans stood up, demanding a new constitution with expanded rights and freedoms.
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October 19, 2022 / Opinion
Laws and the constitution are not a choose-your-own adventure
I had a neighbor once who spent several days in the county jail because he wouldn’t make his mortgage payments. He felt he had a constitutional right to not pay them because the money wasn’t backed by gold.
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October 12, 2022 / Opinion
Montana AG Knudsen is all hat, no cows
In his recent guest view, Attorney General Austin Knudsen whines that the Montana Supreme Court deprived Montanans of a right to decide election methods. Specifically, electing supreme court justices by district, instead of in statewide, non-partisan elections.
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