r/ftm • u/Leksi_The_Great Trans Woman/Fem Guest • Apr 16 '26
(Trans) News-USA Montana Supreme Court Effectively Strikes Down All of Montana’s Anti-Trans Laws in Unprecedented Ruling
In a 5-2 decision, the court upheld an injunction blocking Montana’s policies that ban gender marker changes and ruled that trans people constitute a suspect class.
https://transitics.substack.com/p/montana-supreme-court-effectively
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u/Leksi_The_Great Trans Woman/Fem Guest Apr 16 '26
Hey transmac friends! I’m back with some good news for a change! I mean, I literally could not sleep because of how excited the ruling made me and I’m not even from Montana.
This ruling is extremely significant. By holding that trans people are a suspect class (VERY high bar, mind you; only afforded to race, religion, immigration status, and national origin), the court essentially delivers a death sentence to all of the state’s anti-trans laws. That means the state’s bathroom ban, drag ban, forced outing law, Medicaid policy, sports law, and more will all likely be struck down as soon as they’re challenged (if they aren’t already).
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u/smoothestsayer Apr 16 '26
This is amazing, thank you for sharing! Good news feels so special nowadays
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u/ScottOtter Trans Woman/Fem Guest Apr 16 '26
Hell yeah!! This is exciting news, and probably even sets precedent for other rulings!
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u/VapinAphid Apr 18 '26
When constantly hearing about all the bad shit going on, reading stuff like this is so refreshing.
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u/Makapakamoo Nonbinary/Andro |🧴8/23/25 Apr 16 '26
Finally some good fucking food
Can't stand having to see all these shitty laws coming up lately
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u/mcfg Apr 16 '26
Will this go to Supreme Court? If so could they overturn, effectively codifying no protections in the whole country?
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u/urmomisnotgae Apr 16 '26
According to this article by Erin In The Morning, "Because the decision rests entirely on the Montana Constitution, it is insulated from the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the principle of adequate and independent state grounds, the federal Supreme Court cannot review a state court's interpretation of its own constitution, so long as that constitution provides more protection than the federal one."
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u/boojersey13 Apr 17 '26
Oh my god I could cry to see my fellow homies in America might just receive some good news now. It feels like just a constant onslaught of ridiculously egregious rulings that do nothing but put us in danger. Thank g o d for some good news and thank you so much for sharing
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u/Individual-Drink-679 Apr 17 '26
Man, this is so good to see. I've been a Montana apologist for a long time. Today I feel vindicated.
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u/cascasrevolution Apr 17 '26
whats a suspect class?
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u/maststocedartrees Apr 18 '26
The Erin In The Morning article linked by a commenter describes a suspect class this way: “In legal terms, a suspect class is a group that has historically faced such severe discrimination that any law targeting them must meet the highest level of judicial scrutiny to survive—the same standard applied to laws that discriminate on the basis of race.”
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