![]() ![]() The undertone of the legislation was that during the 16 prior years of Democratic governors, the court had become stacked against conservatives. In 2021, the Legislature passed a bill that gave the governor unilateral authority to fill judicial vacancies. In the meantime, here’s what to know about the disciplinary proceedings against Montana’s top attorney and law-enforcement official. The news of the complaint broke quickly, without a ton of time to get a handle on the particulars of an extraordinary event. ![]() These points have and will continue to surface in debates over legislation that would reshape the court’s processes and in testy elections for the officially non-partisan Supreme Court. (Democrats and others counter that the state’s Republican supermajority has knowingly passed laws with glaring constitutional issues). The insular nature of this process has already generated criticism from Republicans who have, in recent years, accused the court of being self-policing, opaque and at times prejudiced, owing to the dozens of GOP-backed laws from the past two sessions that have faced constitutional challenges and often fallen to court-ordered injunctions. She appointed Missoula attorney Tim Strauch, who so far has not returned a request for comment, to handle the case. But Bucy recused herself in this case, citing her past Democratic candidacy for attorney general and for her work under Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath when he served as attorney general. Alleged violations of those rules are investigated and pursued by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, a court-appointed professional organization currently led by attorney Pam Bucy. More specifically, he’s accused of violating the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct - a series of ethical and practical precepts promulgated by the Montana Supreme Court that govern the conduct of attorneys in Montana. But the gist is this: Knudsen and his attorneys within the Montana Department of Justice are accused of undermining public confidence in the judicial system with their communications to and about the Montana Supreme Court during a lengthy separation-of-powers conflict that centered on a 2021 lawsuit, McLaughlin v. ![]() The complaint is dense and lengthy, and requires some understanding of both the rather arcane system for disciplining attorneys accused of professional misconduct and of a two-year-old lawsuit. Montana’s attorney ethics office earlier this week filed a formal complaint against Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, alleging across 41 counts that Knudsen and his attorneys violated the state’s rules of professional conduct during litigation over legislative subpoena powers. ![]()
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