Montana

Lawsuit challenging Montana PSC districts still moving forward

Published

2 years ago

July 8, 2024

Lawsuit challenging Montana PSC districts still moving forward

HELENA — For the second time in three years, a lawsuit is challenging the district lines used to elect the members of Montana’s Public Service Commission. The two sides in the case met Monday in a Helena courtroom, as a judge considers how a trial should be conducted.

The PSC has five members, each elected from a geographical district. They’re responsible for regulating public utilities, railroads and other industries in the state.

PSC districts have been at the center of legal disputes since 2021, when plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit, claiming they were invalid because their populations were too unequal. The district lines hadn’t been updated since 2003, and population shifts meant some districts had significantly more residents than others. The federal court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and drew its own map, used during the 2022 PSC elections.

In 2023, the Montana Legislature came up with its own plan. Senate Bill 109, which passed with support from majority Republicans, switched from drawing districts based on county lines to using the newly created state legislative districts. The new map also split the state’s largest cities, including Billings, Missoula, Bozeman and Great Falls, between two districts.

After the new map went into effect, a group of plaintiffs – including eight individuals and the organization Montana Conservation Voters – sued in state court, saying SB 109 was a partisan gerrymander intended to give Republicans control in all five districts. They argued the law denied other voters a real opportunity to influence the election results in their districts, and that the map was selected because of those effects, not in spite of it. Plaintiffs said the law was an unconstitutional violation of the rights of suffrage and equal protection.

Attorneys for the state, defending the law, said the map wasn’t an intentional gerrymander and that leaders had legitimate interests in bringing it forward. When introducing SB 109 on the Senate floor last year, sponsor Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, argued the use of legislative districts ensured the five districts’ populations would remain more equal, and that splitting larger communities would mean two commissioners looking out for their interests instead of one.

Monday’s hearing focused on whether the trial in this case should be before a jury. State attorneys asked for a jury, saying it was appropriate for them to decide factual questions like the intent behind the legislation.

“Even if the court said, ‘Okay, I’m not going to put that on to the jury, that would be for the judge,’ causation is clearly a fact issue, and whether there was other justification for it is clearly a fact issue,” said Thane Johnson, an assistant attorney general.

Plaintiffs said there’s no history of gerrymandering cases going before juries, and that the type of questions at issue here are more appropriate for a judge to decide.

“The court is able to instruct the jury on what crosses the line into unlawful discrimination,” said attorney Dimitrios Tsolakidis, referring to another type of case where he said a jury might make more sense. “There is no pattern here for instructing the jury on how much partisanship is permissible in a political gerrymandering case.”

Regardless of whether a jury is called or not, the trial is scheduled to start December 10.

Three seats on the PSC are open in this year’s elections, and those races will be held under the new district lines. In February, District Judge Chris Abbott denied plaintiffs’ request to put an injunction on the new map. He said plaintiffs had a good chance of showing the map was unconstitutional, but that he didn’t think it would be appropriate for the court to draw its own lines at this time. He said in the ruling that he hoped the case would be resolved before the 2025 legislative session, giving the Legislature a chance to try to get in compliance if the final ruling goes against SB 109.

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Montana

Evacuation orders issued as 5,000-acre wildfire burns near Roundup, Montana

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38 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Evacuation orders issued as 5,000-acre wildfire burns near Roundup, Montana

ROUNDUP, Mont. —
The Rehder Creek Fire is burning 16 miles southeast of Roundup has grown to about 5,000 acres, prompting evacuation orders for residents in the Bruner Mountain Area/Subdivision.

The fire started Feb. 26, the cause is unknown and containment was at 0%.

Evacuation orders are in effect for all residents in the Bruner Mountain Area/Subdivision. The Musselshell County Sheriff’s Office is coordinating the evacuation orders, and 911 reverse calls have been sent out to advise people in the area.

A shelter is opening at the Roundup Community Center. Residents were told to contact Musselshell County DES for further information.

Firefighter and public safety remain the top priority. The public is asked to avoid the Fattig Creek and Rehder Road area so emergency personnel can safely and effectively perform their work.

Fire resources assigned to the incident include 40 total personnel, 11 engines, one Type 2 helicopter, three tenders and two dozers.

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Montana

February 26 recap: Missoula and Western Montana news you may have missed today

Published

13 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

February 26 recap: Missoula and Western Montana news you may have missed today

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Montana

Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) – joined by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and 22 other Members of Congress – sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the immediate closure of Camp East Montana in El Paso. They cite urgent humanitarian concerns following multiple deaths in custody, documented unsafe conditions, and serious deficiencies in medical care.

This marks the fourth letter Congresswoman Escobar has sent to DHS and ICE leadership. The previous three letters have gone unanswered.

The letter can be found in its entirety below and here.

“Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons:

We are urgently calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to shut down Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.

Camp East Montana has been operational for six months, and at least three people have died at the site since December 2025: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and Victor Manuel Diaz. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has officially ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

Camp East Montana was constructed in a matter of weeks and opened before construction was complete and it does not have enough federal staff on-site to provide adequate oversight. Over the last several months, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, in whose district this facility is located, has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding concerns about the conditions at Camp East Montana, and has received no responses.

According to detainees, there have been constant and consistent problems at the facility since it opened, beginning with the facility’s poor construction and poor ambient temperature control. Upon opening, the drinking water at Camp East Montana tasted foul and made some detainees sick. Detainees continue to be served inadequate meals, including food that is rotten or frozen; last fall, the facility was also consistently failing to make dietary accommodations for detainees. Detainees have shared that they have sporadic access to outside spaces and recreational areas, and that their dormitory pods are cleaned only once every eight days, despite pods housing up to 72 people at a time. Laundry services are not consistent, and people are washing their clothes in the facility showers. Additionally, the facility experiences flooding and sewage backups when it rains, leading to stagnant water.

One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees. Our offices have heard that only the most ill detainees are referred to the medical unit and that there are inconsistencies as to how soon after arriving detainees are able to undergo initial medical screenings. Detainees with chronic health issues who rely on regimented medications for their health have had difficulty accessing necessary medications, including blood pressure medication and insulin.

At least one of the deaths that occurred in ICE custody, the death of Francisco Gaspar-Andres, appears to partially be the result of poor medical care by staff at the facility. According to ICE’s own account, Gaspar-Andres sought medical attention from facility staff for increasingly serious symptoms, but was only transferred to an area hospital once his condition had severely deteriorated.

In addition to our concerns about poor medical care, we are also aware that detainees have experienced irregular access to their legal counsel, including instances of detainees having only two minutes allotted per phone call every 8 days, which is contrary to ICE’s Detention Standards on access to counsel, and that the belatedly created law library lacks adequate resources for the amount of people currently held at the facility. In January 2026, ICE announced the on-site death of Geraldo Lunas Campos “after experiencing medical distress.” ICE opened an investigation into the death, but did not provide a cause of death. However, The Washington Post later reported that another man detained at Camp East Montana had witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos when he refused to enter a segregated housing unit. Weeks later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled that Lunas Campos had experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” and ruled his death a homicide.

Lunas Campos is the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana as a result of a use-of-force incident, but we are strongly concerned that he will not be the last if ICE is allowed to continue operating Camp East Montana.

ICE was given $45 billion in taxpayer dollars in the reconciliation bill, $1.2 billion of which were awarded to Acquisition Logistics, LLC, a company with no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities, to build and oversee Camp East Montana. However, in the wake of three deaths in custody so far, continued concerns about conditions at the facility, and ICE’s apparent disinterest in responding to oversight letters from Congress, we do not believe Camp East Montana is being run professionally or responsibly.

Camp East Montana must be shut down. For the safety of everyone at the facility, for an end to abuses to detainees, and for fiscal responsibility to the American people, the site cannot continue to operate. We are calling on DHS and ICE to move to immediately close operations at Camp East Montana.

We look forward to hearing from the Department promptly on this matter.

The other co-signers include Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Yvette Clarke, Lloyd Doggett, Maxwell Frost, Jesús “Chuy” García, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Henry Johnson, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Andrea Salinas, Janice Schakowsky, Darren Soto, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Lauren Underwood, Gabe Vasquez, and Nydia Velázquez.

Issues: Immigration

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