Native voters in Montana again successfully defend their rights as U.S. Supreme Court declines to review Montana Supreme Court decision

A Montana court granted a preliminary injunction preventing the State of Montana from enforcing policies that bar transgender people from obtaining accurate sex designations on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

The Montana Supreme Court ruled that SB 99, a 2023 Montana law that categorically bans life-saving gender-affirming care for transgender youth, is unconstitutional under the Montana state constitution’s privacy clause.

The new restrictions were set to take effect later this month and would have forced multiple clinics to close or stop providing abortion care.

Voters elected Judge Katherine Bidegaray, who has committed to protect important rights in the Montana Constitution, in addition to passing CI-128, a ballot initiative that will enshrine protections for reproductive freedom in the state constitution.

This ruling prevents bans on forms of procedural and medication abortions and restrictions on Medicaid patients’ access to abortions from taking effect.

The new rules are scheduled to take effect in November, 2024, and would make abortion harder to provide and access in Montana

A Missoula District Court granted Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment in Reagor v. State and struck down Senate Bill 458 as unconstitutional. SB 458 sought to erase 2S-LGBTQIA+ Montanans from dozens of sections of the Montana Code.

Two transgender women filed a class-action lawsuit against the State of Montana challenging policy that bars transgender people from correcting the sex designation on their birth certificates and makes it impossible for transgender Montanans to update the sex listed on their driver's license.