President Trump nominates new Montana District Court judge
Shaylee Ragar
A former Montana solicitor general has been nominated to become one of the state’s three federal judges.
President Donald Trump announced on social media that he’s tapping attorney Katie Lane for an open U.S. District Court bench in Montana. Lane was a deputy solicitor general under Attorney General Austin Knudsen from 2021 to 2023. Most recently, she worked as counsel for the Republican National Committee.
If her nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lane will replace Judge Susan Watters who presides over the federal court in Billings. Watters announced semi-retirement starting in June 2026.
Montana Republican U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy celebrated the nomination and said they’ll work to get Lane confirmed.
Environmental group sues feds over lack of national wolf recovery plan
Ellis Juhlin
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is being sued for refusing to draft a national recovery plan for wolves. The Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit on Feb.10, saying the agency’s refusal violates the Endangered Species Act.
Gray wolves are federally protected in 45 states. The Northern Rocky Mountain population, which includes Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, is not.
The Fish and Wildlife Service was previously court-ordered to draft a plan by the end of 2025.
The agency reversed course last fall, saying a plan was not needed because wolves had recovered and should be removed from federal protection. In a statement, the Center for Biological Diversity wrote, recovery plans are still needed given that wolves occupy less than 15 percent of their historical range.
In the filing, the Center says a plan would guide management of wolves in places where their ranges are expanding, like California and Colorado.
State Supreme Court upholds Kalispell man's conviction for obstructing police
Austin Amestoy
Kalispell resident Sean Doman argues his First Amendment rights were violated when Kalispell police arrested him in July 2022. His case made it to Montana’s Supreme Court, which disagreed.
In a unanimous ruling, the court said it couldn’t consider some of Doman’s arguments because he failed to make them at trial. The justices also noted the officers agreed with Doman’s First Amendment right to record. They told him so during the incident.
The justices instead focused on whether Doman had prevented the officers from doing their jobs and agreed that he had. Doman initially refused to back away from the vehicle, and gestured at the passengers inside. The officers said they arrested Doman because he took their full attention away from the traffic stop.
A trial jury convicted him of obstructing a peace officer and the court ordered Doman to pay $538.
In a separate opinion, Justice Jim Shea praised the officers’ conduct, and said their handling of the situation “represents the norm rather than the exception, at least here in Montana.”
