State v. Montana First Judicial District Court

On June 6, 2023, the Montana Supreme Court denied the State defendants’ request for a writ of supervisory control over the trial court to reverse its denial of the State’s motion. The Montana Supreme Court also declined to stay the trial court proceedings. The State defendants argued that a trial was unnecessary because no material facts found at trial would change the case’s legal outcome and because the 2023 amendments to MEPA to explicitly exclude consideration of greenhouse gases in MEPA reviews had removed the language that the plaintiffs challenged. The Supreme Court noted that supervisory control is an “extraordinary remedy” that cannot be used to circumvent the appeal process. The Supreme Court found that the State defendants did not demonstrate that the MEPA amendments altered the plaintiffs’ allegations or the theory of their MEPA-related claim. The Supreme Court also found that the State defendants did not provide a reason why the district court’s ruling could not be reviewed on appeal.