Next week the show trial is scheduled to take place on the ridiculous professional-misconduct charges that minions of the Montana supreme court are pursuing against state attorney general Austin Knudsen for his vigorous representation of the governor and the state legislature in their 2021 clash with the supreme court over judicial-reform legislation. Let’s try to catch up on the latest developments:
1. Patricia Klanke, who was somehow appointed to the panel that will decide the charges against Knudsen even though she represented one of the justices in the underlying controversy, has recused herself from the matter. But the panel still hasn’t ruled on Knudsen’s compelling argument that Klanke’s participation in its order denying Knudsen’s motion for summary judgment requires that the order be rescinded and that the panel be reconstituted.
2. It turns out that another member of the panel has a glaring conflict of interest. Lois Menzies worked with the supreme court administrator, Beth McLaughlin, who is at the very center of the underlying controversy, and Menzies worked for the particular entity that the judicial-reform legislation eliminated. As Knudsen argues in this motion, she should be disqualified from the panel, and her participation in the order denying summary judgment should likewise require that the order be rescinded and that the panel be reconstituted.
3. Without even allowing Knudsen the allotted time to respond, the panel granted a motion to exclude testimony from Knudsen’s expert witness.
4. In light of these and previous shenanigans, Knudsen has filed a motion to vacate or stay the proceedings while he seeks relief from the Montana supreme court.