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Big Sky Connection - This time last year, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the state’s Department of Justice rule that people receiving certain government benefits do not have to pay some court fees. Advocates of the rule say they're still educating courts across the state. Comments by Amy Reavis [REH-viss], staff attorney and Skadden Fellow, Montana Legal Services Association, and Victoria Deschamps [DAY-shaw], plaintiff, Deschamps v. 21st Judicial District Court.
Click on the image above for the audio. According to a Montana Department of Justice rule, Montanans who receive benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, TANF and LIEAP qualify to have certain court fees waived. (Adobe Stock)
Kathleen Shannon
January 29, 2025 - Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of a Montana Supreme Court decision ensuring equal access to justice, even for people who cannot afford court costs and fees.
The Montana Department of Justice requires a court to waive filing fees in civil cases for people who receive certain government benefits like SNAP, WIC and Medicaid.
Victoria Deschamps, plaintiff in Deschamps v. Montana 21st Judicial District Court, petitioned for a divorce in court and qualified for a waiver of the $200 filing fee, but it was denied by a lower court, which asked for more details on her finances, twice.
Amy Reavis, staff attorney for the Montana Legal Services Association, brought her case to the Montana Supreme Court and won.
"This makes it just a lot more uniform and a lot more fair to folks, especially low-income Montanans - that you don't just get to access the court if you can pay," Reavis explained. "Everybody gets to access court."
Reavis emphasized it matters in civil cases, which cover family law, eviction, people facing creditors in court and more. After the decision, she and others with the association traveled to 18 courts in eastern Montana to familiarize clerks with the waiver. She added they are planning more outreach this year.
Deschamps said navigating a court case was "daunting." She knows a lot of Montanans are struggling in ways she can relate to.
"There's people that are maybe stuck in bad situations, just because they didn't get the help that they deserve," Deschamps observed. "People are willing to help you, so don't be afraid to ask for help."
In a given year between 2016 and 2021, nearly one quarter of Montana households, about 120,000 families, received at least one form of income-based public assistance, according to a Headwaters Foundation report.
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PNS - Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - Democrats say Trump's order to freeze federal loans and grants puts American lives at risk, Republicans support conditioning California disaster aid to voter ID, and critics say tax credits for private school donations undermine public education.
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PNS - Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - Trump administration will offer all 2 million federal workers a buyout to resign; IN pushes notification law for immigration arrests; CO lawmakers stand up for immigrants; Federal judge blocks Trump federal spending freeze after a day of chaos; NY & US face high costs if proposed Trump tariffs take effect.
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By Kathleen Shannon - Producer, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - When the Montana Supreme Court ruled last year that two of the state's voting laws were unconstitutional, the Secretary of State brought the suit to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has declined to hear it. Voting rights advocates say those laws, and other recent bills, target voters who already face barriers. Comments by Alex Rate, deputy director and legal director, ACLU of Montana.
Click on the image above for the audio. In 2024, at least 10 states enacted 19 restrictive voting laws, according to the Brennan Center for Justice and 21 states enacted 32 expansive ones. (Adobe Stock)
Kathleen Shannon
January 28, 2025 - The nation's highest court has declined to hear a case about Montana voting laws which would have disproportionately affected Native people.
Last year, Montana's Supreme Court decided two laws passed in 2021 to ban same-day voter registration and paid absentee ballot collection were unconstitutional.
Alex Rate, deputy director and legal director of the ACLU of Montana, said people who face too many costs to voting often do not. For those who already face barriers like long distances to elections offices or no residential mail delivery, the laws could have tipped the scales. Rate argued it was the intention of the bill's backers.
"That's what we saw with these laws, was a very deliberate attempt to make it so difficult for people to vote that they would stay home," Rate asserted.
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week opted not to hear it. Rate noted the high court does not have jurisdiction to pick up a case on state voting laws.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, states passed almost 80 restrictive voting laws between 2021 and 2024, nearly three times the number passed in the previous few years. So far in Montana's 2025 legislative session, a half-dozen voting-related bills have been introduced by lawmakers, all Republicans.
"We have repeatedly seen Montana courts strike down bills that the Legislature has passed as unconstitutional," Rate pointed out. "And yet they continue to advance things that are patently unlawful."
Rate described the citizens' rights written in the Montana Constitution as "ironclad," including the right to vote.
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