Montana’s Constitution Bars Reconvening the Redistricting Commission
Montana cannot legally redraw its legislative districts between census cycles. The state’s Legislative Legal Services Office said so in a memo delivered to the State Administration and Veterans Affairs Interim Committee on July 10, 2026. The redistricting commission, the memo concluded, dissolves after completing its work and cannot be brought back.
“Since the commission has been dissolved once it complied with that redistricting plan, and presented it, and it became law under those timelines, we no longer have that commission, so it cannot be brought back.”
Andria Hardin, Legislative Attorney, Legislative Legal Services Office, July 2026
The Montana Constitution specifies that the five-member commission, comprising two Democrats, two Republicans, and one independent selected by the state Supreme Court, forms in the session before each federal decennial census. Once the maps are approved, the commission is dissolved. There is no mechanism to restart it outside that window.
Republican Lawmakers Pushed to Eliminate Native-Majority Districts
The question arose in May 2026, when Republican Rep. Lukas Schubert of Kalispell asked the committee to examine whether mid-cycle redistricting was possible. Schubert had invited the 2020 Districting and Apportionment Commission to appear and discuss eliminating districts he believed favored Native American voters.
The push followed Louisiana v. Callais, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly limited majority-minority districts. Shortly after that ruling, Republican Reps. Braxton Mitchell of Kalispell and Terry Nelson of Stevensville issued a press release calling Montana’s Native-majority districts “blatantly gerrymandered” and demanding their immediate elimination.
Mitchell and Nelson specifically named Senate District 8, which connects the Blackfoot Reservation near Browning to the Flathead Reservation near St. Ignatius, and Senate District 16. They argued those maps produced “predetermined racial and political outcomes.” Those districts, along with four corresponding house districts, are currently represented by members of the Montana American Indian Caucus.
Native Representation Is Already Proportional
The effort to redraw these districts would reduce representation that currently reflects the state’s demographics. Native Americans make up 6.4% of Montana’s self-identified population. Native lawmakers hold 7.3% of all legislative seats. Mitchell and Nelson’s proposed maps would have targeted the districts responsible for that representation.
The American Indian Caucus had 12 members during the 2025 legislative session. Eliminating or restructuring the six districts tied to reservation communities would directly threaten that caucus’s membership.
The legal analysis forecloses the mid-cycle path, but the political pressure behind it does not disappear. The 2030 redistricting cycle will begin in the session preceding the next decennial census, and the legal arguments Mitchell and Nelson are making will resurface.
What You Can Do Now
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Call Montana’s legislative leadership at (406) 444-3064 and tell them you oppose any future redistricting effort that targets Native American-majority districts. Ask them to publicly commit to following the constitution’s redistricting timeline.
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Contact the Montana American Indian Caucus through the Montana Legislature’s directory at leg.mt.gov to express support and ask how constituents can assist before the 2030 redistricting session begins.
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Submit a public comment to the State Administration and Veterans Affairs Interim Committee through the Montana Legislature’s website. The committee meets on an ongoing interim schedule; comments on redistricting procedure are accepted between sessions.
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Track Louisiana v. Callais challenges in your state. The Brennan Center for Justice at brennancenter.org is documenting how states are responding to the ruling. If your state has a similar redistricting commission structure, this Montana memo sets a useful precedent.
Sources
Daily Montanan: Montana Legal Office Says Mid-Cycle Redistricting Is Unconstitutional
Montana Legislature: American Indian Caucus Member Directory
Brennan Center for Justice: Majority-Minority Districts and Post-Callais Redistricting