Tom Lutey

1 week ago | montanafreepress.org | Tom Lutey

Get an insider’s look into what’s happening in and around the halls of power with expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Sign up to get the free Capitolized newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday. April 17, 2025Sen. Jacinda Morigeau had heard enough.

1 week ago | nbcmontana.com | Tom Lutey

Once thought to be a legislative priority, a Republican effort to regulate Montana courts is going out with a whimper in the final days of the Legislature. Of the 27 bills crafted by a select committee to “reign in the courts,” only eight remain as the Legislature nears its endpoint. Several attempts to get judicial candidates to declare a political party have died, even though that objective was cited as a priority by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte in his State of the State address.

2 weeks ago | montanafreepress.org | Tom Lutey

Get an insider’s look into what’s happening in and around the halls of power with expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Sign up to get the free Capitolized newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday. April 10, 2025A bipartisan coalition of Senate moderates on April 8 gained more control over the final 19 possible days of the legislative session.

2 weeks ago | montanafreepress.org | Tom Lutey

Montana Supreme Court Justice Beth Baker said Wednesday that she won’t seek a third term in 2026, saying that 16 years on the bench is enough. Baker told Montana Free Press that she knew her current term would be her last when she ran for reelection in 2018. “I never contemplated serving more than two terms. The eight-year terms are long ones and if I were to put in for a third term, [that] would be 24 years,” Baker said.

2 weeks ago | news-journal.com | Tom Lutey

Former Senate leader Jason Ellsworth was banned from the Montana Senate floor for life as part of a censure Tuesday stemming from an ethics investigation into a government contract awarded to a friend. The Senate voted 44 to 6 to censure the Hamilton Republican, who has survived three different expulsion votes since mid-March, each failing to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to pass. Before the vote Tuesday, Republican and Democratic leaders praised the compromise.