GOP Montana governor smacked down in court for illegally trying to strongarm lawmakers

A state court in Montana has rebuked Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for an illegal tactic to block the legislature from overriding his veto.

"Judge Mike Menahan’s ruling on March 5 does not guarantee that lawmakers will be able to override Gianforte’s veto of Senate Bill 442, legislation that allocated tax revenues from marijuana sales to conservation, veterans and county infrastructure programs," wrote Arren Kimbel-Sannit for the Montana Free Press. "But it does start a 14-day clock for the governor and the Montana secretary of state to initiate a vote to override the veto, appeal the district court’s ruling to the Montana Supreme Court or both."

At issue is the fact that Gianforte vetoed the bill just minutes before the state Senate adjourned, effectively making it impossible to hold an in-session vote to override his veto — and then declaring it improper to hold a veto vote by mail.

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"Plaintiffs argued that the Montana Constitution contemplates no instance in which lawmakers don’t have the opportunity to override a veto, regardless of its timing. The governor and secretary of state maintained that the veto was issued in good order and that the plaintiffs were asking the court to weigh in on what is fundamentally a political question," said the report. Ultimately, Judge Menahan said he could not "allow Gianforte to continue to exercise an unconstitutional level of control over the lawmaking process."

Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker who became a national name after Republicans barred her from the House floor for proclaiming supporters of a gender-affirming care ban had "blood on [their] hands," celebrated the ruling in a post on Threads.

"The court has spoken, and the legislature must be allowed an opportunity to override the Governor's veto," she wrote. "I look forward to joining my colleagues in overriding the veto of SB 442, which passed the house 82-17 & the senate 48-1."