In response to efforts by the Montana Family Foundation to push an anti-transgender ballot measure that would bar transgender people from using public facilities like bathrooms or locker rooms that are consistent with their gender identity, the ACLU and the ACLU of Montana filed a petition challenging the legal sufficiency of the description of the proposed anti-trans ballot initiative (I-183) that would go to the voters. The petition argued that the ballot and fiscal impact statements inaccurately characterize the initiative – hiding both its discriminatory effect and its impact on local and state budgets. The Supreme Court of Montana agreed, ordering the Attorney General to revise both statements.

This case was filed on behalf of prisoners following a serious disturbance in 1991 at the Montana State Prison (MSP) that resulted in seven deaths. The lawsuit challenges inadequate medical and mental health care, overcrowding, and inadequate environmental and fire safety conditions, classification policy, and sex offender policies. The parties settled all issues except those related to treatment of protective custody prisoners, which were ultimately tried in a separate case filed by the Department of Justice. A settlement was reached in 1995, but it required monitoring by experts to assure compliance with the terms of the settlement.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Montana represent four loving, committed same-sex couples as they sue Montana in federal court for the right to get married or to have their marriages from other states legally recognized in Montana.

Six committed same-sex couples have sued the state of Montana for failing to offer legal protections to same-sex couples and their families in violation of the Montana Constitution’s rights of privacy, dignity and the pursuit of life’s basic necessities and its guarantees of equal protection and due process. The goal of this lawsuit is to see that same-sex couples are able to protect their families with the same kind of legal protections that the State offers to different-sex couples through marriage.