Missoula, Mont. — Today, the Montana Fourth Judicial District Court awarded over $1.3 million in attorneys' fees and costs to the plaintiffs in Cross v. State of Montana. The order requires the State to reimburse the legal costs incurred in successfully challenging Senate Bill 99, Montana's unconstitutional ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender adolescents.
Last year, the court ruled that SB 99 violated the Montana Constitution, preserving the right of transgender youth and their families to access medically necessary health care. Today's award of $1,326,302.02 ensures that the State – not the families and nonprofit organizations that defended those constitutional rights – will bear the financial consequences of defending an unconstitutional law.
"Today's decision reinforces a fundamental principle: When the government violates constitutional rights, it should be responsible for the costs of that unlawful action," said Alex Rate, Legal Director at the ACLU of Montana. "No family should have to shoulder the financial burden of protecting rights guaranteed by the Montana Constitution."
The plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana, and Lambda Legal, and Ashurst Perkins Coie. As nonprofit organizations, the ACLU and Lambda Legal rely on fee awards authorized under Montana law to continue representing individuals whose constitutional rights have been violated.
Attorneys' fees also serve an important public purpose by encouraging governments to carefully evaluate the legality of legislation before enacting and defending unconstitutional laws.
"Attorneys' fees are not a windfall. They are one of the ways our legal system ensures that ordinary people can challenge unconstitutional government action,” said Malita Picasso, Staff Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Without fee awards, nonprofit legal organizations would have fewer resources to represent families whose constitutional rights have been violated."
In its order, the Court rejected the State's arguments that an attorney fee award penalizes Montana taxpayers. “The best way to save Montanans money and to promote efficiency is to not pass laws violating the Montana Constitution in the first place,” the order reads. “Here, guiding principles of good medicine also make good law; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
The constitutional victory in Cross remains one of the strongest state court decisions protecting access to gender-affirming medical care in the country. Because the case was decided under the Montana Constitution, those protections remain independent of changes in federal constitutional law.
The State is expected to appeal the Cross decision to the Montana Supreme Court.
Background
In 2023, Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 99 into law, prohibiting physicians from providing evidence-based gender-affirming medical care to transgender minors. Families, physicians, and advocates challenged the law under the Montana Constitution.
In May 2025, the Montana Fourth Judicial District Court ruled that SB 99 violated multiple provisions of the Montana Constitution and permanently blocked enforcement of the law. Today's ruling addresses reimbursement of the legal fees incurred in obtaining that constitutional victory.
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