Notable Decisions
- State v. 1993 Chevrolet Pickup, 116 P.3d 800 (Mont. 2005). The court ruled 6–2 that a warrantless search and seizure of a man's trash did not violate his constitutional rights. Justice James C. Nelson's reluctant concurrence, which he based purely on existing court precedent, received significant attention for his dire warnings about the erosion of civil liberties. His opinion described the amount of personal information contained in trash, such as DNA, and the invasions of privacy he saw becoming more common in other areas of life. "I don't like living in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; but I do." He warned that "eventually, we are all going to become collateral damage in the war on drugs, or terrorism, or whatever war is in vogue at the moment."
- Columbia Falls Elem. Sch. Dist. No. 6 v. State, 109 P.3d 257 (Mont. 2005). The court unanimously ruled that the state's public school system violated the Montana Constitution's requirement for the Legislature to fund and establish free schooling so as to provide students with a "quality" education.
- Big Spring v. Jore, 109 P.3d 219 (Mont. 2005). The court ruled 6–1 that seven double-punched ballots in an extremely close election for a seat in the Montana House of Representatives should not have been counted, because ballots were only valid under state law if the voter's intent could be clearly determined. The invalidation of those seven votes gave the election to Democrat Jeanne Windham, whose win gave the Democrats the one seat they needed to have a majority in the Montana House. Had the trial court's counting of those votes been upheld, her opponent, Rick Jore, would have been the first Constitution Party candidate to have won an election at the state level.
- Snetsinger v. Mont. Univ. Sys., 104 P.3d 445 (Mont. 2004). The court ruled 5–3 that the ineligibility of gay and lesbian employees of the University of Montana for domestic partner benefits violated their right to equal protection under the Montana Constitution.
Read more about this topic: Montana Supreme Court
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or decisions:
“Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“A woman does not have to make decisions based on the need to survive. She can cut through issues, call shots as she sees them.... Many bad decisions are made by men in government because it is good for them personally to make bad public decisions.”
—Dianne Feinstein (b. 1933)