· Great Falls Tribune · By John S. Adams · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
The Great Falls Tribune reports that District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock allowed MIJA's challenge to LR-121 to proceed. Affidavits from lawful residents established a reasonable fear that the law could deny them state services, defeating the attorney general's argument that no plaintiff had standing. Shahid Haque said the ruling opened the way to examine the state's implementation plans, employee training, and constitutional safeguards.
This was a major procedural victory in Shahid's LR-121 litigation. It ensured that the state could not avoid judicial review simply because the people targeted by a new law challenged it before suffering a denial of services.