The Legal Program handles cases that involve infringements upon constitutional rights and civil liberties. We represent individuals or classes of individuals whose cases will either serve to create new precedent or will result in general system-wide reform in favor of protecting and defending civil liberties.
In other situations, we may not file a lawsuit, but may write letters calling for changes or reforms.
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Jun 26, 2012
State v. Yarlott
Criminal Legal Reform
Status: Closed
Robert Yarlott is indigent. Yet, upon criminal sentencing, was expected to pay for his court fines, fees, surcharges, costs of assigned counsel, jury service and prosecution costs. Although Yarlott had been...
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Mar 8, 2012
Diaz-Wassmer v. Ferriter
Free Speech
Status: Closed
In 2011, the ACLU of Montana sued on behalf of an inmate at Montana State Prison who was being denied the ability to correspond with his family in Spanish. That lawsuit was settled in March 2012 when the...
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Jul 22, 2010
Donaldson Guggenheim v. State of Montana
LGBTQ Rights
Status: Closed
Six committed same-sex couples, with the aid of the ACLU, sued the state of Montana on July 22, 2010 for failing to provide legal protections for their families in violation of the Montana Constitution’s...
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Jan 11, 2010
State of Montana v. Anthony St Dennis
Public Defense
The ACLU has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Anthony St. Dennis because he did not receive fair and adequate representation during his trial for the murder of Forest Salcido, a homeless man in Missoula...
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Dec 31, 2009
Baxter v. State of Montana
Robert Baxter and several other mentally competent, terminally ill patients, as well as a group of physicians, filed a complaint in October 2007 claiming that the patients’ rights of privacy, human dignity...
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Dec 16, 2009
Raistlen Katka v. State of Montana
Jails and Prisons
Status: Victory!
The ACLU, along with co-operating attorney Andree Larose of the Helena firm, Reynolds, Motl and Sherwood, filed a complaint against the state of Montana and the Montana Department of Corrections in December...