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
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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August 12, 2022 / News
Montana SupCo: Voting on Supreme Court justices by district won’t appear on Nov. ballot
Montanans will continue to elect Montana Supreme Court justices at large with a decision issued Friday — and one immediately criticized by Republican leaders.
The state’s highest court in a 5-2 opinion affirmed the Butte-Silver Bow District Court’s decision to enjoin the Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen from placing HB 325 on the ballot in the 2022 general election.
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July 27, 2022 / News
Judge strikes down law that targeted youngest voters, ruling it violated state’s constitution
A Yellowstone County District Court judge has ruled that a law passed by the 2021 Legislature that would have forced county clerks to withhold absentee ballots from voters who would turn 18 by Election Day is a violation of the Montana Constitution.
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July 11, 2022 / News
Court hears arguments on four voting rights challenges to Montana law
Lawyers for the state and several organizations spent Monday afternoon searching for the problems that solutions created by the Montana Legislature solved. The hearing in Yellowstone County District Court focused on four bills passed by Montana lawmakers that changed voting laws and access to ballots and those collecting ballots.
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June 29, 2022 / News
Montana Supreme Court: Regents can set gun policy on state’s campuses
The Montana Board of Regents has full authority to oversee the Montana University System, and a bill that tried to take away its power to restrict firearms on campus is unconstitutional where it applies to the regents, according to a unanimous decision Wednesday from the Montana Supreme Court.
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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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