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District court drag ban case paused while state appeals to 9th Circuit – Daily Montanan [1]

['Blair Miller', 'More From Author', '- November']

Date: 2023-12 

A federal judge’s decision whether to permanently block Montana’s drag ban law will have to wait. First, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will make a decision on the state’s appeal of the initial injunction that temporarily blocked the law in October.’

Attorneys for the state and for the plaintiffs in the case met with the Montana judge in a phone pretrial conference Wednesday afternoon after plaintiffs’ attorneys with Upper Seven Law moved to permanently enjoin the drag ban. It is already temporarily enjoined per an October order.

Attorneys for the state representing Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, who are two of the named defendants in the case, filed an appeal of the preliminary injunction on Nov. 13.

During Wednesday’s conference, the court and the two sides agreed to stay proceedings in the case in the U.S. District Court of Montana until the appeal in the 9th Circuit is resolved, meaning no summary judgment on the drag ban could be issued until the appeals court rules on the appeal.

On Thursday morning, attorneys for Knudsen and Arntzen asked the court for a 30-day extension to file their brief in the appeal that was unopposed by the plaintiffs’ attorneys, according to filings.

The appeal brief had been due Dec. 11, but the Montana assistant attorney general told the court that the Department of Justice “has several conflicting deadlines” both before and on that date and said more time was necessary “to ensure that the issues in this case are adequately briefed to the Court.”

If granted, the extension would give the Department of Justice until Jan. 10 to file their brief on the appeal. The 9th Circuit had not ruled on the motion as of Thursday afternoon, but typically, unopposed motions for extensions are granted by courts.

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