Federal docket · On a public docket
Free Speech Coalition v. Knudsen
No. 9:24-cv-00067-DWM, Judge Donald W. Molloy · Federal — Missoula Division
Scheduling order October 24, 2024; motion to dismiss granted August 6, 2025
What was published
The Free Speech Coalition and others sued Attorney General Austin Knudsen in his official capacity in the Missoula division, No. 9:24-cv-00067-DWM. The court’s October 22, 2024 opinion describes the challenged law as Senate Bill 544 (2023), MCA 30-14-159: a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors must use reasonable age-verification methods, and may be liable for damages if a minor reaches the material. Judge Molloy’s October 24, 2024 order set a preliminary pretrial conference for December 17, 2024, at the Russell Smith Courthouse. On August 6, 2025, he granted a motion to dismiss. Bloomberg Law reported that the plaintiffs lacked standing after Montana removed the attorney general’s authority to bring an enforcement action, while private damages suits remained. This desk did not retype the ten-page dismissal order.
Where it stands
Dismissed, on standing as Bloomberg reported it, not on a holding that the age-verification law is constitutional. A dismissal for standing does not answer the First Amendment question the plaintiffs filed to ask.
Does not establish
The statute is identified from the court’s October 22, 2024 opinion. The reason for the 2025 dismissal is attributed to Bloomberg Law, because the order itself was not retyped here. This is a speech case about a content statute. It is not a criminal file.
Sources
- Scheduling order, Document 23CourtListener RECAP
Filed October 24, 2024. Case 9:24-cv-00067-DWM.
- Docket, including the October 22, 2024 opinionCourtListener
The October 22, 2024 opinion, 2024 WL 4542260, identifies SB 544 and MCA 30-14-159.
- Order granting motion to dismiss, Document 49Justia
Signed August 6, 2025. The docket description is the source for the dismissal, not a summary of the opinion’s reasoning.
- Age-verification law survives the suitBloomberg Law
August 8, 2025. Reports the dismissal ground as standing, after the attorney general’s enforcement authority was removed.









