Author: Keegan Flaherty
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Lawfare vindication for AG Knudsen?
Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s 41-count professional misconduct saga was laid to rest Dec. 31 in the final work hours of the final day of the fifth year since anonymous complaints triggered a high-stakes attorney discipline proceedingby accusing him of defying a Montana Supreme Court order and disparaging the system of justice. The New Year’s Eve ruling was greeted…
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Montana Supreme Court: Austin Knudsen can continue practicing law
The Montana Supreme Court has declined a request to suspend the law license of Montana’s top lawyer, Attorney General Austin Knudsen. Knudsen, Montana’s attorney general since 2021, had been under scrutiny froma Montana Supreme Court-appointed body that investigates and assesses Montana attorneys’ adherence to state standards of professional conduct. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel had argued that…
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State Court Report: The most significant state constitutional cases of the year
We asked leading commentators, scholars, and practitioners to share what they see as the most significant state constitutional case of 2025. I’m sharing their answers below. We’ll be back again in January with our regular newsletter. Happy holidays! —Alicia Bannon State courts are free to interpret their constitutions differently — and, sometimes, more protectively of…
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State of the State Courts: 2025 Public Opinion Poll Findings
For the 12th consecutive year, NCSC has teamed up with leading national pollster GBAO Strategies to conduct our State of the State Courts public opinion survey. The survey provides real-time insights into public sentiment about the courts and data for understanding the types of administrative reforms and improvements that might enhance public support. Survey development…
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Montana Supreme Court says attorney general overstepped in rewriting ballot language on nonpartisan court races
Montana’s attorney general went too far in revising the language for a proposed ballot initiative calling for nonpartisan court races, the state’s high court ruled Thursday. For the second time in a month, Montana Supreme Court justices ruled that Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, needlessly amended initiative ballot language pertaining to the state’s nonpartisan…
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Fact Sheet: The Importance of the Judiciary
The Montana and U.S. governments consist of three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial. This separation of powers, established by our Montana and U.S. Constitutions, includes a system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful. The judicial branch and our courts are essential in safeguarding our constitutional rights by interpreting laws,…
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Lessons from Poland for U.S. Judges on Defending the Rule of Law
A new brief from Piper Fund synthesizes perspectives shared at the “Lessons from Poland for U.S. Judges on Defending the Rule of Law” convening and through participant interviews afterward into key takeaways. It also explores the “Chilling Effect” and the case of the United States vs. Hannah C. Dugan, a judge for nine years in…
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Trump Administration Fires 8 Immigration Judges in New York
The Trump administration fired eight immigration judges in New York City on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The firings followed an earlier round of job cuts in New York immigration courts and are part of a broader disruption across the country, which is taking place as the president seeks to…
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Supreme Court says AG can’t rewrite ballot initiative on nonpartisan judges
In two separate but related rulings, the Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed with Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen that a ballot measure that would have controlled judicial elections was unconstitutional, while allowing another to move forward, saying the wording his office proposed overstepped his authority. Both measures involve the group Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts…
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Attorney general’s edits to ballot initiative went too far, Montana Supreme Court rules
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen went too far in editing ballot language for an initiative calling for nonpartisan court elections, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. With two judges dissenting, the justices sided with Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts, ruling that changes Knudsen made to Constitutional Initiative 132 would “mislead voters and prevent them from casting an intelligent…