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Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced a landmark settlement agreement with The Vanguard Group, Inc. this week, resolving allegations that the asset manager conspired to artificially constrict the coal market through anticompetitive trade practices.

The settlement stems from a 2024 lawsuit filed by Knudsen against Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street Corporation. The suit alleged the firms used their substantial stockholdings in major publicly traded coal producers to influence company policies, with the effect of reducing coal output and increasing energy prices.

According to the complaint, the asset managers collectively held significant shares in nearly every major publicly held coal company in the United States and used that influence to push companies toward “green energy” production targets.

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The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled this week that Anaconda police officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they entered a man’s home without a warrant during a suspected mental health emergency, delivering a major legal victory aligned with arguments advanced by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and sharply rejecting a dissent by Montana Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon.

The decision upheld the outcome reached by the Montana Supreme Court, which had affirmed the conviction of William Trevor Case for assaulting a peace officer. However, while agreeing with the result, the nation’s high court made clear that it disagreed with aspects of the Montana court’s reasoning and took the unusual step of directly criticizing McKinnon’s dissent as extreme and wrong on the law.

The case stemmed from a September 2021 incident in Anaconda, when police conducted a welfare check after Case told his former girlfriend that he intended to kill himself and would shoot any officers who came to his home. The girlfriend contacted 9-1-1, prompting three officers to respond.

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has been elected to lead the national organization that advocates for electing Republican attorneys general.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Knudsen will serve as the chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association for the 2026 election cycle.

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, joined by 15 other state attorneys general, announced Wednesday the launch of an investigation into major technology companies over what they allege are misleading claims about being powered entirely by renewable energy.

In a letter sent to executives at Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon, Knudsen said the companies’ reliance on purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset fossil fuel use threatens the reliability of the nation’s electric grid and may violate state consumer protection laws.

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a 27-state coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down California’s ban on firearm magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

The group of attorneys general filed an amicus brief in Virginia Duncan, et al. v. Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California, arguing that the Ninth Circuit erred when it upheld California’s law in March. The coalition contends the ban violates the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

“California’s ban on large capacity magazines undermines our constitutional rights, which do not stop at state lines,” Knudsen said in a statement. “SCOTUS has the opportunity to protect the Second Amendment and reject unlawful restrictions on law-abiding citizens.”

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a 27-state coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Washington state’s ban on firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The coalition filed an amicus brief Monday in Gator’s Custom Guns, Inc. v. State of Washington, arguing the law violates the Second Amendment.

In May, the Washington Supreme Court upheld the 2022 ban, reversing a lower court ruling that had struck down the law as unconstitutional. Knudsen and his counterparts say the decision misinterprets both history and precedent established in landmark Supreme Court cases.

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Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed the opening brief in William Trevor Case v. State of Montana ahead of oral arguments at the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) scheduled for October 15. The Attorney General’s Office will defend a Montana Supreme Court ruling that law enforcement may enter a home without a search warrant if there is reason to believe a life-threatening emergency is occurring.

The case stems from a 2021 incident in Anaconda, when officers entered Case’s home after receiving credible information that he might attempt suicide. Inside, Case hid in a closet and, upon being discovered, pointed a gun at an officer. The officer shot and wounded Case, who was later convicted by a jury of assaulting a peace officer. The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the verdict on appeal.

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Police entered William Trevor Case’s home without a warrant for a welfare check on September 21, 2021, according to court documents. His ex-girlfriend had called law enforcement, saying he threatened suicide with a firearm.

Officers continuously knocked on Case’s door and waited for a response for 40 minutes. After police entered, Case appeared from behind a closet holding a gun, and an officer shot him in the abdomen.

Case was charged with assaulting a peace officer. But he argues officers conducted an unconstitutional search of his home and that evidence collected can’t be used against him.

A district court and the Montana Supreme Court disagreed, and upheld his conviction. They held that police may enter a home without prior authorization in emergency circumstances.

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The Montana Department of Justice is warning people about the over-the-counter opioid, 7-OH. According to the Montana Department of Justice (DOJ), 7-OH is a potent by-product of the plant kratom, which is imported from Southeast Asia and commonly used as a tea. Now, that plant is being genetically modified.

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is spearheading a 23-state coalition of attorneys general urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt grants to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a group that has been providing climate-focused trainings for judges nationwide.

In a letter sent Tuesday to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Knudsen raised concerns that taxpayer dollars are funding ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project, which has hosted more than 50 events and trained over 2,000 judges on climate science from the organization’s perspective. While ELI describes the program as “objective and trusted” education, Knudsen and other coalition members argue that the project effectively encourages judges to shape climate policy through the courts.

“As attorney general, I refuse to stand by while Americans’ tax dollars fund radical environmental training for judges across the country,” Knudsen said. “The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call ‘neutral’ education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system.”

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, along with 21 other state attorneys general, has filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case challenging a Massachusetts school district’s policy on student “social transitioning” without parental consent.

The case, Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, involves Ludlow Public Schools and parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri. The parents allege that the district allowed school staff to promote social transitioning for their two children—such as using new names and pronouns—without their knowledge or approval. According to the complaint, a school counselor held private discussions with the students and suggested they were unsafe with their parents.

Attorney General Knudsen’s brief contends that the First Circuit Court of Appeals erred when it upheld the lower court’s ruling in favor of the school in 2023. The brief argues that the court wrongly concluded that parental rights are diminished once children attend public schools and that schools may make decisions, including secret ones, without parental consent.

“Ludlow’s actions should trigger alarm bells. These secret acts, which contravened the parents’ express instructions, violated the constitutionally sacrosanct parent-child relationship,” Knudsen wrote. “Courts must evaluate whether a particular decision is rooted in parental or state power. The First Circuit’s conclusion that the decision to socially transition B.F. was well-grounded in state power was fundamentally wrong.”

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is spearheading a 23-state coalition of attorneys general urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt grants to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a group that has been providing climate-focused trainings for judges nationwide.

In a letter sent Tuesday to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Knudsen raised concerns that taxpayer dollars are funding ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project, which has hosted more than 50 events and trained over 2,000 judges on climate science from the organization’s perspective. While ELI describes the program as “objective and trusted” education, Knudsen and other coalition members argue that the project effectively encourages judges to shape climate policy through the courts.

“As attorney general, I refuse to stand by while Americans’ tax dollars fund radical environmental training for judges across the country,” Knudsen said. “The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call ‘neutral’ education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system.”

ELI received roughly 13 percent of its revenue from EPA grants in 2023 and an additional 8.4 percent in 2024. The coalition also cited concerns about the organization’s marketing of the program, alleging that its statements could be misleading under state consumer protection laws.

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