Montana Water Law

This new book provides a comprehensive, contemporary summary of major water law topics in Montana. Its co-authors are the current Montana Water Court judges and the professor of water law at the University of Montana School of Law, all of whom previously worked on water law matters in private practice. This essential treatise belongs in the library of practitioners, consultants, and policy makers working in the Montana water, real estate, energy, natural resources, and environmental sectors. Coverage includes: Overview of Montana water rights Basic prior appropriation concepts Adjudication of existing water rights Agency approval of new and changed uses Litigating water disputes in Montana district court Tribal, federal, and interstate water rights Water rights transactions Other laws affecting water rightshttps://scholarship.law.umt.edu/faculty_books/1013/thumbnail.jp

Montana Environmental Information Center v. Montana Department of Environmental Quality

Hecla Mining Company and its subsidiaries want to develop two industrial silver and copper mines­­––the Montanore and Rock Creek projects––beneath northwest Montana’s Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Environmental organizations, in just one of a series of legal challenges to protect high-quality designated resource waters and unique bull trout and grizzly bear habitat, brought an action seeking a declaration that Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s issuance of a permit for the Montanore Project was unlawful. The Montana Supreme Court, in a four-member majority, affirmed the district court’s vacatur and remanded the case to the state agency for further proceedings. The decision is celebrated by environmental groups as a victory to ensure that mines are permitted under Montana’s contemporary water quality standards and nondegradation policy. However, the Court likely created an unclear test to determine a mine’s operational life

Copyright Silencing

Copyright has been weaponized to suppress speech,1 frustrate competition,2 punish third parties,3 and silence criticism and erase facts.4 This Essay highlights one form of copyright weaponization I call “copyright silencing.” Copyright silencing is a form of copyright weaponization where owners assert copyrights to silence criticism or suppress facts instead of to protect copyright owners’ legitimate interests5 in their works. This Essay identifies recent or notable instances of copyright silencing, examines the harm copyright silencing perpetrates, and explains why it is increasingly difficult to stop the assertion of copyright to silence, suppress, and censor facts, information, and criticism

McGirt Policy Briefs: Cultural Resources

On July 9, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. Although the only actual effect of that decision was on Mr. McGirt’s state court criminal conviction, rendering it invalid in light of the continuing existence of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s reservation, the implications of McGirt reverberated throughout Oklahoma and the nation. By rejecting Oklahoma’s arguments that the march to statehood had resulted in the implicit disestablishment of the Creek’s reservation (and, by analogy, those of the neighboring and similarly situated Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations), Justice Gorsuch’s opinion on behalf of the Court’s majority reaffirmed that nearly all of eastern Oklahoma remains Indian Country. The governments of those Five Tribes now face the practical challenges posed by reclaiming territorial sovereignty mostly denied to them for over a century

Antiracism, Reflection, and Professional Identity

Intent on more systematically developing the emerging professional identities of law students, the professional identity formation movement is recasting how we think about legal education. Notably, however, the movement overlooks the structural racism imbedded in American law and legal education. While current models of professional development value diversity and cross-cultural competence, they do not adequately prepare the next generation of legal professionals to engage in the sustained work of interrupting and overthrowing race and racism in the legal profession and system. This article argues that antiracism is essential to the profession’s responsibility to serve justice and therefore key to legal professional identity. Fortunately, developing a legal antiracist identity does not require inventing a new approach. Rather, infusing reflective practice with critical race consciousness provides a sound basis from which to launch a new effort to develop the next generation of antiracist lawyers