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Contact: Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, [email protected]

**Upper Seven Law Moves for Summary Judgment, Seeks Access to Public Records**

[Helena, Montana] On Thursday, January 18, 2024, nonprofit law firm Upper Seven Law moved for summary judgment in district court. Upper Seven asks the Court to reject state officials' claims of "executive privilege"—which has never been recognized in Montana—and to require that Governor Gianforte and the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) comply with their obligations under the Montana Constitution's right to know.

Upper Seven sued the Governor and DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton last October for refusing to respond to requests for emails that provided policy guidance to staff related to completing federal grant applications. Both the Governor and Director Brereton categorically denied Upper Seven's right to know requests, claiming that the communications could be withheld under "executive privilege," a type of exemption for right to know requests that has never been recognized in Montana. In fact, a Helena district court roundly rejected the Governor's last attempt to assert executive privilege to hide public documents in a decision last year.

The requested emails give employees instructions about how state agencies should complete federal grant applications, which require applicants to certify compliance with federal nondiscrimination law. Whether the State certifies compliance could affect a significant amount of federal funding. And a refusal to certify compliance would signal that programs will not be equally available to all Montanans.

"The Governor believes that holding the highest office in the state insulates him from the Montana Constitution's transpaContact: Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, [email protected], 406-396-3373