HELENA, Mont. – Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Christopher Abbott issued a ruling today denying a preliminary injunction request to enjoin the party from normal operations, which was filed by three state senators in an effort to halt the Montana Republican Party’s (MTGOP) activities and reverse the results of its 2025 state officers’ convention.

In June 2025, a majority of Republican delegates voted against association with a faction of self-identified Republican senators who repeatedly empowered the Democrat minority to derail the conservative agenda mandated by Montanans. Three of those senators sued the MTGOP in an attempt to cease its operations and force it to hold a new convention.

The ruling correctly recognizes political parties as “primarily private organizations” that are free to make their own rules, call their own conventions, and qualify their own delegates.

The ruling states that the senators are unlikely to show that legislative immunity affords them judicial protection from consequences imposed by the MTGOP on matters of internal party governance, and as such, are not entitled to a preliminary injunction.

“The court got this one right. The Montana Republican Party enjoys freedom of association, including the right not to associate with people who don’t share our principles and priorities,” MTGOP Chairman Art Wittich said in response to the ruling. “Republican delegates exercised that right through proper procedures at the convention.”

The ruling allows the MTGOP to continue pursuing the conservative policies demanded by Montana voters.

The MTGOP urges all Republicans in the state to focus on enacting the platform promised to voters instead of working to empower the Democrat minority and their failed policies.

Press Contact:
Ethan Holmes
press@mtgop.org