Litigating your right to know

In our prior columns, we’ve written about your fundamental right to know and how it provides all Montanans with an important way to interact with our state and local governments: You have a right to know how your government makes decisions, spends money and conducts its business, and you can get that information by simply asking the most relevant state or local agency (and we’d love to help you do so!).  

Much of the time, Montanans can make requests and receive information with no personal cost.  

But as hinted in our last column about the dangers of fees that agencies can impose to restrict your right to know, the government may be emboldened to restrict your right because it knows that your only recourse for a denied request is to spend thousands of dollars to sue the agency that denied the request in court.