Montana
Montana Supreme Court hears oral arguments about 'executive privilege' in O'Neill v. Gianforte • Daily Montanan
Nearly 20 court cases from outside Montana recognize “executive privilege,” a right for the governor to guard certain pieces of information as confidential, and Montana needs to do the same, argued a lawyer for the state last week to the Montana Supreme Court.
Right now, the governor hears “robust, unfiltered and sometimes harsh criticisms” about proposed legislation, and his staff shouldn’t have to worry about retaliation if those criticisms become public, said Dale Schowengerdt, on behalf of Gov. Greg Gianforte.
“That is ultimately to the public’s detriment because it impedes the governor’s ability to make the best decision possible on whether to sign or veto a bill,” said Schowengerdt, of Landmark Law.
But take one step back and look at the right of the people in the Montana Constitution, argued Constance Van Kley, on behalf of a plaintiff and political consultant seeking those records.
“Transparency and open government are the status quo in Montana,” said Van Kley, of Upper Seven Law. “And it’s against this backdrop that we should see the governor’s request for what it is. It is a novel request to create a broad, never-before-recognized exception to our fundamental constitutional right to know.”
In Missoula on Friday, the Montana Supreme Court heard arguments in Jayson O’Neill v. Gianforte.
In the lawsuit, O’Neill is fighting to see “agency bill monitoring forms,” which track bills and apparently contain staff advice about how the governor should treat proposed legislation. But the governor’s office argues his “executive privilege” means he can withhold them.
In 2022, a Lewis and Clark County District Court judge said Montana doesn’t recognize any form of “executive privilege,” and she ordered the governor to turn over the records to the court for private review and possible release to the public.
The governor, however, appealed the decision, and in oral arguments on Friday, the Montana Supreme Court justices mulled whether a place exists in Montana for some form of “executive privilege.”
If it does, how far does such a privilege go? What else would it cover?
Would legislative legal notes that review proposed bills, and are currently public, end up secret too?
On the other hand, if there isn’t a place in Montana for such a privilege, how can the state protect the executive’s decision-making process, as other jurisdictions outside the state have done?
Schowengerdt argued the governor respects the public’s right to know, having worked with the legislature on a bill that streamlines records requests. But he said small exceptions are needed for candid bill vetting — which is in the best interest of the public.
Van Kley, however, said the delegates to Montana’s 1972 Constitutional Convention believed government needs to be responsible to the people it represents and protect the public trust.
“This can only occur when the activities of government are visible,” Van Kley said.
Justices quiz state lawyer on ‘executive privilege’
At a hearing hosted by the University of Montana law school at the Wilma Theatre, the justices pressed both lawyers about whether an executive privilege was appropriate, and if it was, how it would fit into Montana’s legal landscape.
Schowengerdt said the delegates wanted to build a stronger executive, the decision to sign or veto legislation is one of the most important functions of that office, and every executive since George Washington has claimed some form of executive privilege.
In U.S. v. Nixon, he said, the U.S. Supreme Court found such a privilege is “fundamental to the average government.” In that case, the justices found the president can’t withhold records in a criminal prosecution, but executive privilege is valid in some circumstances.
Montana Supreme Court Justice Ingrid Gustafson, however, wanted to know how far such a privilege would go if Montana accepts that idea. Would it apply only to records related to “pre-decisional deliberations,” such as those forms? And what would the process be for deciding whether the privilege applies?
Schowengerdt said the privilege could extend to other “pre-decisional deliberations,” but he said in this case, the governor was making only a limited request.
“However you slice it, it’s narrow,” he said.
Justice Beth Baker, though, said some of the cases he cited protected the governor’s schedule: “Would that be the case in Montana?”
Schowengerdt said he didn’t know. (In a separate records request, O’Neill asked for and received copies of the governor’s calendar, but with the vast majority of the entries redacted.)
District Court Judge Leslie Halligan, sitting in for Chief Justice Mike McGrath who was out for a health concern, wanted to know what happens after a decision is made. Are the forms open to the public then?
Schowengerdt said no, or the same chilling effect from frank feedback would occur. But he also said a process has been laid out, and some records could be subject to an “in camera” review, or a private review and possible release by the court, but the governor has the burden to assert the scope of the privilege.
Halligan, though, also said in the Nixon case, the fight was between two branches of government, and in this case, it involves the “strong provision of the public’s right to know” in the Montana Constitution.
As such, the justices wanted to know how Schowengerdt suggested executive privilege would work regarding the actual subject matter.
For one thing, he said, the ultimate decision the governor makes is known to everyone, and the protection itself is just for the internal “devil’s advocacy.”
“It’s for the staff so that (the governor) receives that unfiltered information,” Schowengerdt said.
‘Is it an absolute position?’
Although Schowengerdt said executive privilege is common and the governor in Montana needs just a small amount of protection, Van Kley argued the court shouldn’t open that door at all.
But Justice Dirk Sandefur pressed Van Kley on the idea that executive privilege shouldn’t be recognized.
Van Kley said she agreed some records may be outside the scope of the constitutionally protected right to know, and Sandefur wanted to know how she would define them.
For starters, she said, those with significant privacy interests. Additionally, she said, the examples used by delegates, such as documents related to property purchases prior to a deal, because disclosing them would interfere with the ability of the government to get a good price.
But she said those exceptions aren’t similar to the case at hand.
“Executive privilege is fundamentally different from that,” Van Kley said.
The privilege has “no limiting principle,” she said; in this case, the governor simply said, “no” and didn’t provide even a blank version of the form her client requested.
She also stressed that the governor’s argument that other jurisdictions have used the privilege omits an important factor: “Not one of those shares our constitutional right to know.”
Sandefur, however, said the court first needs to decide whether it will recognize executive privilege, and then if so, figure out how it would apply to the specific documents in question.
Justice Jim Rice raised a question about practice on the ground. He said even though the cases outside Montana all apply different laws, they all stand for the “factual reality” the governor needs to be able to receive confidential information to make decisions only he can make.
“So how does Montana law accommodate what appears to be an undisputed factual reality about how the executive has to operate?” Rice asked.
In other cases, Van Kley said, the fights involve separation of powers, where one branch is fighting with another, but that’s not true in this case. Here, she said, the calculus is different because the public has a constitutionally protected right to know, and it’s typically “self executed,” except the governor denied information in this case.
In that context, she said, executive privilege doesn’t hold up in Montana.
Justice Beth Baker, however, wanted to know why there would be room to protect judicial deliberations but treat executive deliberations differently. Van Kley said for one thing, the protection for the judiciary is narrow, but the governor wants a much broader protection.
She also said transcripts from the constitutional convention show a privilege for judicial deliberations is ingrained in the state’s legal landscape, but that’s not the case for executive privilege.
Van Kley said Montanans have a right to observe public bodies deliberate, and the argument that someone might “say things differently” in public isn’t strong enough to keep records private: “Our constitution expects the people of Montana can understand that decision-making is sometimes difficult, that it is messy. There is no need for secrecy.”
Sandefur, however, questioned whether the governor himself is a “public body” as opposed to a constitutional officer, and Justice Jim Shea said the state already has recognized many exceptions to the right to know besides privacy, including attorney-client privilege, work product privilege, and others. (Shea also said since Nixon wasn’t decided until 1974, it’s fair to say executive privilege wasn’t on the radar of the delegates in 1972.)
Van Kley, though, said just as the delegates were looking at building a stronger executive branch, they were also concerned about the consolidation of power: “And the answer to that is accountability and transparency.”
Sandefur said he understood her position was that executive privilege wasn’t supported in Montana, but if the court found there was at least some need for it, he asked how would she sketch out the parameters.
Van Kley said the governor would bear the burden every time of demonstrating the need in connection with a specific task: “I think that at this point, the governor has failed to meet his burden.”
Disclosure: Upper Seven is representing the Daily Montanan in a separate public records matter.
The Ole’ Mercantile is a busy place by Grass Range, Montana, standards.
The community of roughly 125 people sits along a long, lonely network of two-lane highways connecting Billings with points north along Montana’s Hi-Line.
For drivers pushing toward Lewistown, Malta or Glasgow, the store’s lights are often the first sign of anything for miles.
Of late, they may also offer a chance of identifying the person driving a truck local women say is stalking these roads.
Owner Krista Manley told Cowboy State Daily her store is outfitted with a top-of-the-line camera system that offers a 360-degree view with no blind spots. Four overlapping cameras capture her property, the Wrangler Bar and the full stretch of Highway 87 frontage running through town.
Fergus County investigators now hope that footage — and Manley’s willingness to comb through hours of it — can help identify the driver of a newer white Ford four-door pickup with dark tinted windows, no front license plate and a chrome grill guard.
The truck is at the center of the most recent reported highway stalking incident.
Lizette Lamb, a 48-year-old traveling health care worker, says she was nearly run off the road the evening of April 10.
Now a growing chorus of similar accounts from women across north-central Montana are popping up on social media.
At The Ole Merc
Travis Lamb, Lizette’s husband, took to Facebook to post about what happened to his wife on one of the loneliest stretches of highway in Montana.
Travis told Cowboy State Daily Lizette pulled into the Ole’ Merc Conoco in Grass Range between 7 and 8 p.m. to grab a drink. She later remembered a pickup was backed in alongside the cafe: a newer white Ford four-door.
“Kind of gave her the heebie-jeebies,” he said. “My wife has worked in a prison and stuff like that, so she’s used to kind of going with her gut.”
She bought a drink, got back in her Ford Bronco Sport and headed north on Highway 19 toward Glasgow.
About a mile and a half down the road, she realized the white pickup was behind her. Through the dark tint, she could make out the silhouettes of two men.
She slowed down and edged toward the shoulder to let them pass. They slowed with her. She sped up. They sped up.
By the time she reached Bohemian Corner 23 miles up the road, Travis Lamb said, his wife knew something was wrong.
There were no other vehicles in the lot, so she didn’t bother pulling in. She tried to call Travis. No service.
She tried 911. The phone beeped, displayed a red message and disconnected.
Truck Gets Aggressive
The white truck continued to shadow Lizette along Highway 191. About two miles from where the road crosses the Missouri River, coming into a construction zone, the pickup got aggressive.
Travis said the truck rode so close to the Bronco’s bumper that his wife could no longer see its windshield, only the grille.
Then it pulled out as if to pass and swerved into her, he said, in what he described as an attempted PIT maneuver — the law-enforcement technique of clipping a fleeing vehicle’s rear quarter to spin it out.
PIT stands for Precision Immobilization Technique, and this tactic is used to stop a fleeing vehicle by forcing it to turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control and stop.
“She was fortunate, kind of timed it to when they went to turn into her and hit her, she sped up,” Travis Lamb said. “And they missed.”
That’s when Lizette Lamb pulled her Springfield XDM 9mm pistol out of the center console. She didn’t point it, but she made sure they could see it.
The white pickup hit its brakes, threw a U-turn in a spray of dust and gravel, and headed back toward Grass Range.
The Video
“I thank God that it did happen to her and not somebody else, because I know my wife is more than capable of defending herself,” said Travis Lamb, an Iraq War combat veteran, who eventually reached out to Manley at the Ole Merc.
Then, when Manley reviewed the surveillance video from the Merc’s camera system, she found no sign of a white Ford truck.
“We have not found evidence of them at our store or at the three businesses that come along the highway right there,” Manley said. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
“My default is to absolutely believe women, and she (Lizette) was, she was rattled.”
Manley holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and ran the research team at Procore Technologies before going into business for herself.
When reviewing the video, Manley logged the times Lizette arrived and left, and then watched the highway for an hour after.
“We’re absolutely not arguing the authenticity of the report in any way, shape or form,” said Manley. “In my previous life before I had the store, I actually was a memory and cognition researcher. I understand how stress impacts memory.”
The Echoes
Travis Lamb’s Facebook post went off like a flare.
He tallied 36 accounts of similar experiences in roughly the same swath of country stretching across prairie and badlands in one of the least populated parts of Montana.
The pattern in many of the comments was consistent enough to be unsettling: a white pickup, often a Ford, sometimes with out-of-state plates, tailgating women on isolated stretches of two-lane after dark.
One commenter described being followed by a white truck north of Grass Range three years ago around 10 p.m., tailgated with brights on at more than 80 mph until the truck peeled off in a different direction.
Another described a white Ford pickup near Harlowton trying to force her to stop, then waiting for her at a gas station. Another recalled a white pickup with North Dakota plates in the same area.
In Wyoming, one poster described two men in a white truck with Washington plates on Highway 120 between Cody and Meeteetse who tailgated her, tried to push her off the road, then cut in front and slammed on the brakes.
Other women described different vehicles — a dark Escalade, a small white car, a black double-cab — but the same script: tailgating, refusing to pass, brake-checking, dead zones with no cell service.
Easter Night
One name in that Facebook thread was Joni Hartford of Lewistown, who told Cowboy State Daily she had her own near-identical encounter on Easter evening just days before Lizette Lamb’s.
Hartford, who works in insurance, had dropped off some belongings to her son, a football player at Rocky Mountain College in Billings.
She stopped at a gas station on her way out of town “for a pop,” climbed back into her red 2014 Ford F-150 and headed north on Highway 87 around 7:30 or 8 p.m.
“I noticed it right after I left Billings,” Hartford said of the pickup behind her. “It was right behind me and I kept thinking, ‘God, this vehicle is super close.’”
About 15 miles out of town, past the racetracks, she pulled toward the white line and slowed to 60 mph on a long straightaway, hoping the truck would go around. It wouldn’t.
“He was so close behind me, I couldn’t see his taillights, but I could see his marker lamps on his mirrors, his tow mirrors,” Hartford said. “So I knew it was a Ford pickup, and I knew it was like a three-quarter or a 1-ton. It was a big pickup.”
She couldn’t make out the color in the dark. She called her husband.
“I said, ‘This pickup is tailgating me,’ and said, ‘It’s really kind of making me nervous, because if I had to stop for a deer, it would run me over. It would run me off the road,’” Hartford said.
“And he goes, ‘Well, just stop.’ And I said, ‘I am not stopping. I’m in the middle of freaking nowhere,’” she added.
She made it through Roundup with the truck still on her bumper.
North of town, climbing toward Grass Range, Hartford caught a lucky break with an Amish buggy sluggishly clapping up a blind hill and slowing traffic.
“I darted around the Amish buggy, right before the blind hill, and he couldn’t get around them, and I just gunned it, and I was going probably 90 mph just to put space between us,” Hartford said. “I never seen him again.”
Hartford carries a .380 pistol. She had it out and on the seat. She didn’t show it — between the dark and her tinted windows, she wasn’t sure the driver behind her would have seen it anyway.
When Lamb’s post crossed her Facebook feed, Hartford said the parallels stopped her cold.
“It’s the same exact situation,” she said. “I can’t say for certain it was the same person, but it sure seems like it was the same person.”
Hartford said she believes the driver is hunting for circumstance: single women, after dark, on a corridor he knows is desolate and short on cell coverage.
“They’re targeting them at gas stations,” she said. “That’s the only place they could have found me, because it’s the only place I’ve stopped.”
The Candidate
Penny Ronning, cofounder and president of the Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force, had a similar drive in 2022.
She remembers it as the only time in nearly a year of solo campaign travel across 41 Montana counties that she felt afraid.
Ronning, then a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, was driving from Billings to Havre for a campaign event.
Instead of taking the interstate, she chose the back roads — north out of Winifred on Highway 236, a route that runs about 30 miles of gravel through some of the most remote country in the state before dropping into the Missouri River Breaks, which Ronning compared to a Montana version of the Grand Canyon.
As she entered the gravel, a four-door white pickup with blacked-out windows pulled in behind her.
“That was what made it frightening,” Ronning said. “It was that I was followed.”
Ronning, who has spent years working on human trafficking policy and prevention, was careful to push back on the framing that has circulated on Facebook around the Lamb case — that the white-pickup encounters are likely abduction attempts tied to trafficking networks.
“Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel a person into commercial sex acts or labor against their will,” Ronning said. “Just because someone is being followed, that doesn’t rise to the level of human trafficking.”
The most prevalent form of human trafficking in the United States, she said, is familial trafficking, one family member trafficking another.
In Montana, she said, labor trafficking is also common in construction, nail salons, illicit massage businesses, hospitality and domestic servitude in pockets of high-end real estate.
Sex trafficking almost always begins with someone the victim knows.
The Watch
Back in Grass Range, every white pickup that rolls past the four-corner blinking light is now turning heads.
Manley said her store has worked closely with the Fergus County Sheriff’s Office on past incidents, and her cameras are essentially a standing resource for investigators.
She also said the response on social media has dismayed her, commenters questioning whether these highway stalking incidents happened at all, or suggesting Grass Range itself isn’t safe.
She believes her store, and others like it in remote pockets of Montana, are informal refuges.
“We’ve all been there, whether it’s in a snowstorm or where we’re just uncomfortable driving like this where we’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ you see the big lights and you’re like, there’s a beacon of safety, essentially,” Manley said.
She said that her eyes are open to potential threats along the isolated highways connecting Grass Range to the rest of the world.
“We know that it is a highway that has a reputation for, you know, trafficking, drug moving, all of those different things, and that’s why we are as diligent as we are,” said Manley. “We really care about the safety of our community, our employees, and our customers.”
Manley remains in contact with the Lambs.
“She told me, ‘I’m not going to quit looking,’” said Travis, explaining how Manley is arranging for the Lambs to review the footage themselves.
Travis figures that perhaps, “Instead of a white Ford, maybe it’s a tan Dodge.”
He added, “I’m hoping somebody’s like, ‘I know that pickup.’ That’s what I’m praying for.”
So is Lizette, who told Cowboy State Daily, she’s thankful for the response to her story. She’s also thankful she was traveling with her sidearm.
“Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in now. You know, Montana, in the middle of nowhere,” said Lizette, who encouraged anyone else with similar encounters to come forward.
“This is just a reminder that it is happening,” she said. “It is real.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at April 18, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from April 18 drawing
24-25-39-46-61, Powerball: 01, Power Play: 5
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from April 18 drawing
18-21-22-32-42, Star Ball: 10, ASB: 03
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from April 18 drawing
10-16-29-31, Bonus: 13
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from April 18 drawing
06-08-09-20-22
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Montana
Between Bozeman And Billings Is Montana’s One-Of-A-Kind Historic Mill Filled With Cheese – Islands
Montana may be well known as a top destination for nature enthusiasts and adventure seekers thanks to its outdoor activities like hiking and paddling, but there are some unique foodie gems to be found here, too. One of the best ways to experience Montana’s local food scene is with a visit to Greycliff Mill, between Bozeman and Billings. Here, you can discover a one-of-a-kind cheese attraction along with a number of other things to see on site during your visit to Big Sky Country.
Greycliff Mill is housed in a restored 1760s barn, which features a water-powered gristmill and pretty scenery like ponds framed by rock formations. You may see bison wandering the site — there are five that live here. You may also catch a glimpse of a 10-foot-tall bear, but no need to panic as it’s only a statue, carved by a chainsaw. The pretty cafe, a mix of modern and rustic decor, serves from a menu that includes coffee, milkshakes, and pastries, plus paninis like “The Cattleman” and breakfast sandwiches like the “Sheepherders Sandwich.” Book in advance for a special farm-to-table dinner in the evening — these are only offered on select dates throughout the year, and may sell out. But one thing you shouldn’t miss here is the cheese cave.
Discover Greycliff Mill’s cheese cave
Greycliff Mill has an underground cheese cave, which is a must-see on any visit. It’s possible to see experts making artisan cheeses while you learn about the cheesemaking process and sample a few products. The cheese is aged in the cave at a temperature of 50 degrees with 85% humidity to create the perfect environment for a tasty product. It’s possible to buy some cheese at their market — which also sells seasonal produce, bread, and lots of other Montana-made products.
Besides the food-based spots, Greycliff Mill is also home to a small wool-weaving studio, and there are accommodations if you want to spend the night in restored log cabins or reclaimed farm silos. Greycliff Creek Ranch offers horseback rides and a chuckwagon dinner for more authentic Montana experiences. Whether you’re visiting especially to see the cheese cave, or road tripping and need a break, Greycliff Mill is a quirky and special spot. One Google reviewer summed up the experience well, praising the “amazing rustic atmosphere,” and saying, “I stopped for a coffee and ended up staying just to enjoy the view. Great coffee, peaceful place, and such a unique spot. Definitely worth the stop if you’re driving through Montana.”
Greycliff Mill is between Bozeman and Billings, the largest city in Montana and surrounded by natural beauty. It’s almost equidistant between the two cities — 1 hour to Bozeman and 1 hour to Billings. The closest major airport is Billings-Logan International Airport, although Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, Montana’s mountain gem of an airport, is also a convenient option.
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