The Missoulian.What makes Montana’s registration requirement unusual is two court rulings, both of which — at least on the surface — would appear to bolster Menges’ case.
In 1997, the Montana Supreme Court found that the state’s law banning “deviant sexual relations” was an unconstitutional violation of a person’s right to individual privacy.
The Montana Legislature later repealed the statute in full in 2013. Six years after the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling, the U.S.
Supreme Court also found, in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, that anti-sodomy laws banning consensual same-sex relations are unconstitutional.