Montana Supreme Court - Notable Decisions

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.