The Supreme Court has turned back an election law case out of Montana that relied on a controversial legal theory with the potential to change the way elections are run across the country.

Congress and Republican President Donald Trump have made it clear they intend to consider far-reaching policies to limit the scope of Medicaid in the name of slashing government spending.

The Montana Senate on Monday voted unanimously to open an ethics investigation into the actions of Sen. Jason Ellsworth — with him in support — when he signed a $170,100 contract with a business associate late last year.

"The people of Montana expect that we find and adjudicate corruption in state government," Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kalispell.

Holocaust survivor Stanislaw Zalewski attends the Commemoration Ceremony of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, in Oswiecim, Poland, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montana GOP lawmakers are prioritizing bills that would give them more oversight of the judicial branch. More than half a dozen advanced on Friday.

The legislation, Senate Bill 164, is one of several strategies Republican lawmakers in Montana and other states have advanced in recent years to prohibit transgender minors from receiving medical treatments that help align their appearance with their gender identity.

The Montana Senate voted Monday to refer questions over Sen. Jason Ellsworth’s handling of a state contract to the Senate Ethics Committee for a full investigation.

Senate President Matt Regier, a Kalispell Republican, said Thursday that he has “very, very serious concerns” about the contract arrangement.

The former Republican state Senate president denied Friday any wrongdoing in connection with a $170,000 no-bid contract he signed in his final days in office, an expenditure that is now under scrutiny by new Senate leadership.

On Thursday, the Montana House and Senate voted on seven Republican-sponsored bills that would make changes to the state’s judicial branch and legal system.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back an election law case out of Montana that relied on a controversial legal theory with the potential to change the way elections are run ...