McLaughlin v. Montana State Legislature
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In this original proceeding, the Supreme Court held that a subpoena issued by the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to Director Misty Ann Giles and the subpoena issued by the Senate president and Speaker of the House to Court Administrator Beth McLaughlin did not serve a valid legislative purpose, were permissibly overbroad and were therefore invalid.
McLaughlin brought this proceeding seeking to quash and permanently enjoin the enforcement of successive subpoenas the Legislature issued first to the Director of the State Department of Administration and later to McLaughlin for the production of McLaughlin's emails between certain dates. The second subpoena also ordered production of McLaughlin's stated-owned telephones and computers used to facilitate polling of state judges. The Supreme Court granted the request, holding (1) the subpoenas in question were impermissibly overboard and exceeded the scope of legislative authority; and (2) if the Legislature subpoenas records from a state officer like the Court Administrator auxiliary to its legislative function, whether those records be in electronic or other form, a Montana court and not the Legislature must conduct any needed in camera review and balance competing security and privacy interests to determine whether records should be redacted prior to disclosure.
Court Description: Go to the Synopsis of the Opinion
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