Montana
Montana Viewpoint: The push to politicize the courts
Jim Elliott
The 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, United States Volunteers, is not a well-known outfit in the history of the Civil War, but it fought alongside General Sherman and served as his escort in the march from Atlanta to the Sea. The regiment was raised in Huntsville, Alabama.
They were men of the northern Alabama hill country who were loyal to the Union and refused to be drafted into the Confederate forces that controlled the state. It was common for areas of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi to contain citizens of anti-Confederate, pro-Union sympathizers. Indeed, the citizens of today’s West Virginia live in a state that seceded from the Confederate state of Virginia.
I raise this issue to point out that in a political climate that seems to be unified there are always some individuals, groups of people, and even entire geographical areas that think independently from the majority. It is hard for the majority to tolerate this, let alone believe it. But it is something to be reckoned with when we come to Montana politics and especially with those Oregonians, Idahoans, Washingtonians, and yes, Californians who want to form their own state which is free from the liberally political coastal areas.
Here in Montana, we have, and have always had, enclaves of people with different political views who have had to live in political jurisdictions that they disagree with. It is tough, because while the laws are created and enforced by the majority, they have to be obeyed by everyone. This raises a point that I think is willfully ignored by majority governments and that is that the majority ought to be sensitive and accommodating, within reason, to the sensibilities of the minority among them.
Missoula County is a good place to examine. In the Legislature I represented the rural areas of western Missoula County, as well as Mineral and Sanders Counties. It seemed the further one got from downtown Missoula the less love there was for it, but at the same time, it was the trade center for the area, so, like it or not, we had to deal with it.
Now, even though we Montanans believe we are a people of free thinkers, often that means we really want everyone to be free to think exactly like we do, and so tolerance is not high on our list of ways to treat those with different viewpoints.
It has always seemed strange to me that one level of government wants to impose conformity on those governments beneath it, even though they are elected by the same people. So, what might be good for the people of the city of Missoula might not be welcomed by the entirety of Missoula County and there might be conflict between the city and county governments. And definitely, with Republican control of the state government, there is conflict of conservative state government with liberally controlled city governments. This leads to the state passing laws to restrict the abilities of the city government to enact laws that their local citizens want to see.
And once laws are passed that create conflict between those two forces, who decides? Why, the courts, of course, which are non-partisan. For now.
The current Republican idea is to bring the courts to rule in favor of the laws passed by the state government, which presently the courts often disagree with, and so rule against. By being able to put political party labels on judicial positions the majority government can rule the state as it sees fit and control the independence of the lesser governments. To this end, The Republican party in Montana is hoping to enact laws that can help elect courts that are more in tune with Republican thinking.
Probably the most important decision in the writing of the 1972 Montana Constitution was to have the delegates seated in alphabetical order rather than by political party. Who made the motion is lost to history, but the decision itself made history. It freed the delegates from the bonds of political pressure that happen when people are surrounded by others of the same political opinion. It allowed delegates to interact as individuals, rather than political robots. It allowed delegates to think and to contemplate ideas that had a diversity not found in party politics.
It would be good to return to that method today.
Montana
Christi Jacobsen enters race for Western House seat
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen is running for Montana’s Western Congressional District seat, entering the race a day after U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke announced he would not seek reelection.
Jacobsen’s announcement sets up a new contest for the open seat after Zinke, a Republican, said he would seek reelection.
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“As your Secretary of State, I’ve stood up to Washington overreach, defended election integrity, and delivered real results for Montanans. In 2020, voters gave me a mandate to clean up our elections, grow Montana business, and push back against radical liberal special interests. I delivered. Now it’s time to take that same results-driven, America First leadership to Congress.”
Montana
Montana Lottery Powerball, Lotto America results for March 2, 2026
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing
02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from March 2 drawing
03-08-17-24-34, Star Ball: 06, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from March 2 drawing
06-12-19-29, Bonus: 11
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from March 2 drawing
21-28-58-65-67, Powerball: 25
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 2 drawing
28-41-42-50-55, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life 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
Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate
Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.
Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:
The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….
There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:
While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.
The Missoulan article includes this response:
In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”
As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.
Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.
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