Blair Miller, Daily Montanan

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously struck down Montana’s 2013 law requiring minors to get consent from a parent to obtain an abortion as unconstitutional, saying it violates their right to privacy and that the state had shown no compelling interest existed for imposing the extra requirements.

The court’s opinion, written by Justice Laurie McKinnon, upholds a Lewis and Clark County District Court’s decision from February 2023, which also found that the law, which has been enjoined for 11 years, violated the Montana Constitution and the Supreme Court’s prior holdings in Armstrong vs. State of Montana and Weems vs. State of Montana.

In the Armstrong decision, the court found that a person’s right to privacy in the constitution includes the right to procreative autonomy. The Weems decision expanded the scope of providers that were allowed to perform abortions in Montana. ...

A hydrothermal explosion in Yellowstone National Park damaged a boardwalk and sent debris several stories into the air Tuesday morning in the Biscuit Basin area northwest of Old Faithful, according to the scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

The explosion, which Scientist-in-Charge Michael Poland said was a “small” one, happened around 10 a.m. Tuesday about 2.1 miles northwest of Old Faithful, likely in the Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin, Poland said.

Poland said in an information statement early Tuesday afternoon there had so far been no injuries reported in the explosion....

The Montana Free Press first reported news of the protection order and the domestic abuse allegations contained in the original filing on Monday evening, leading the Montana Democratic Party to call for Ellsworth’s resignation on Tuesday morning.

Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican, said in a statement through his attorney that his ex-fiancée “unwisely and without representation filed claims against me that are not true.” The Daily Montanan is not naming Ellsworth’s ex-fiancée because the original complaint alleged domestic abuse against her.

“She prepared her petition in May on her own when she was angry that I still wanted her to return my property after I ended our relationship in March,” Ellsworth said in the statement. “She has voluntarily dismissed her claims and has conceded that she does not require any orders for her protection, which is correct. I have not been abusive and do not wish her or her daughter any harm. We were there for each other for six years. Sadly, that came to an end earlier this year. We are both moving on respectfully.” ...

The state and Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen had asked Judge Kathy Seeley to dismiss remaining parts of the case involving 16 plaintiffs tied to the state energy policy, which was repealed by House Bill 170, which Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law in March.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued in court Friday that bill and another introduced and passed late in the session in response to a judge’s decision about greenhouse gas emissions at a NorthWestern Energy power plant in Laurel – House Bill 971, which Gianforte signed this week – involved efforts to derail the trial by changing the parts of Montana law the original lawsuit targets.

“I would suggest you continue to prepare for trial until you get an order,” Seeley told attorneys from both parties when a Department of Environmental Quality attorney suggested a trial would not be necessary. “… I’m not intending to just stop everything so that we can spend months wrapped around that spoke.” ...

The Montana Supreme Court publicly reprimanded a Third Judicial District Court judge from Anaconda on Thursday for violating judicial ethics rules when he made sexual comments about a witness in the hallway of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Courthouse last year.

District Judge Raymond Dayton will begin a 30-day suspension without pay on Saturday and will not be able to appear back on the bench until June 12, according to a stipulated agreement Dayton reached with the Judicial Standards Commission in early April that was accepted by the Supreme Court on May 2.

As part of his punishment, he faced the state’s high court Thursday for a public reprimand in Helena. ...