On August 24, 2024, the Daily Montanan responded to a frivolous cease-and-desist letter from the Attorney General’s office, which demanded that the news outlet delete a recently published article.  The article included a copy of a survey that the Montana Highway Patrol conducted to assess its “organizational climate” and highlighted employees’ concerns over claims of favoritism, distrust, mismanagement, and cronyism among leadership. 

The Daily Montanan received a copy of the anonymized survey from a confidential source and made no changes to it before publication.  Both the Montana Constitution’s right to know and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protect the Daily Montanan from any attempt by the Attorney General’s office to prevent disclosure of the survey—an obviously public document.   

On August 29, 2024, Upper Seven Law responded to the Attorney General on the Daily Montanan’s behalf, in turn demanding that his office rescind its cease-and-desist and refusing to remove the article.