· Missoulian · By Associated Press · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
The Associated Press reports that a federal magistrate recommended allowing most of MIJA's racial-profiling claims against the Montana Highway Patrol to proceed. The court recommended dismissing two state-constitutional counts but retaining federal equal-protection, search-and-seizure, and civil-rights claims arising from traffic stops prolonged for immigration checks.
The recommendation was an important procedural step in the class action led by Shahid. It kept the core federal claims alive and moved the case closer to examining whether the patrol had an institutional policy of detaining Latino motorists.