Pacific Legal Foundation called this a decisive move that restores equality before the law and ends more than three decades of unconstitutional discrimination.
In response to the new law, Pacific Legal Foundation and its client, Do No Harm, are dismissing their lawsuit challenging Montana's previous board appointment mandates, mandates that required the governor to consider race and gender when filling positions on state regulatory boards, including the Montana Board of Medical Examiners.
All states and several U.S. territories established boards to regulate the practice of medicine. In Montana, medical practitioners are under the purview of the Montana Board of Medical Examiners. Legislatively created in 1889, today’s board requires 12 members -- six medical doctors (five MDs and one DO) and one each of a podiatrist, nutritionist, physician assistant, and emergency care provider, as well as two at-large, non-medical practitioners. All must meet residency, licensing, experience, and legal requirements.
No longer will race and gender be considered for medical board seats in Montana.
"People try to defend the quotas that they're necessary to help out people who were hurt in the past, but whenever the government tries to redistribute to help some people but not others it just makes things worse," Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jeff Jennings told AFN in a related story about similar legal challenges from Pacific Legal Foundation in other states.
In a press release, Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of Do No Harm said that equality before the law is a foundational American value.
"Thanks to this legislative reform, Montana joins other states like Arkansas — in ending outdated, unfair practices that deny people opportunities based on who they are," said Goldfarb. "It sets an example for the many states still clinging to discriminatory appointment laws."
Filed in March of 2024, Do No Harm v. Gianforte challenged a 1991 law in Montana that required governors to pursue proportional race and gender representation when appointing individuals to public boards. The law required governors to deny opportunities for some Montanans to competently serve the public, based on no reason other than their race or gender — something Pacific Legal Foundation argued was an unconstitutional policy under the Equal Protection Clause.
The new legislation signed by Governor Gianforte removes those discriminatory provisions, ensuring that appointments are based on qualifications, experience, and commitment to public service, not race or sex.
"All this stuff should be based on individual merit, not on race," said Jennings.
Pacific Legal Foundation told AFN that it will continue its nationwide efforts to eliminate unconstitutional discrimination in government appointments and defend the right of every American to equal treatment under the law.
