HELENA — It happens every two years: the Montana Legislature passes a bill, the governor vetoes it, and the bill dies. But in one case after the 2023 legislative session, a bill in that situation got tied up in a months-long legal battle that has finally reached Montana’s highest court.

On Friday morning, the Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the long-running case centering on Senate Bill 442 . As they do several times a year, justices took this hearing outside their normal chambers – holding it at the Delta Hotels Helena Colonial during the State Bar of Montana’s annual meeting.

(Watch the video to hear some of the arguments in Friday's hearing.) Montana Supreme Court hears oral arguments in case centered on 2023 Gianforte veto

SB 442, sponsored by then-Sen. Mike Lang,

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