A Win From Montana

The court has spoken and the legislature went too far in trying to harass us!

Montana Supreme Court Backs Trans Rights in Identity Document Case

Vanguard News

By Joseph Franzese

April 20, 2026

The ACLU of Montana published a report highlighting a recent Montana Supreme Court decision blocking enforcement of policies that bar transgender people from updating identity documents, ruling that such policies likely violate constitutional protections against discrimination.

According to the ACLU of Montana, the court “upheld a District Court order temporarily preventing the State of Montana from enforcing policies that bar transgender people from obtaining accurate sex designations on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses,” preserving access for transgender people to obtain accurate identification documents.

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The ACLU of Montana also highlighted advocates’ views on the broader significance of the ruling. Executive Director Akilah Deernose stated, “This is a good day not just for transgender individuals but for all Montanans,” adding that “our Constitution exists to protect all of us from government overreach,” and that the court “faithfully interpreted our Equal Protection Clause to protect against unlawful discrimination.”

The ACLU of Montana also reported legal advocates’ framing of the decision within a national context. Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, stated, “Today’s ruling is an important victory for transgender people across the state of Montana,” and described it as “perhaps even a glimmer of relief to transgender people across the country who are enduring a relentless effort to strip away their rights.”

There sure has been "over reach" by the states and the federal governments! The Daily Montanan wrote that,

The court blocked the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services as well as the Department of Justice (which operates the Motor Vehicle Division) from refusing to update those documents to match a resident’s gender identity. The majority’s decision led to charges from two of the court’s more conservative members, Chief Justice Cory Swanson and Justice Jim Rice, to accuse the majority of disregarding science, rewriting history, meddling in political debate and deepening rifts between lawmakers and the courts.

“The majority today has blown through all of these prudential instructions to issue a political decision dressed up in constitutional garb,” Swanson wrote in his dissent. “Now that we have spoken from the judicial mountaintop, where is the incentive toward continued public debate, mutual respect, and accommodation? Each side is in fact incentivized to stake out maximalist positions and then rush to the courthouse so the least democratic branch can settle political disputes better left to policy makers.”

No good sirs, it is you who are ignoring science, it is you good sirs that want to persecute a whole community because of your belief. As KPAX points out, this is just a court order blocking the law, the case can now be heard on the policy.

The Montana Supreme Court’s ruling is preliminary.

A full trial remains pending.