Attorney General's Opinions and Letters of Advice
Opinions
Attorney General's opinions are issued to answer questions of law raised by public agencies or officials, including:
- the legislature or either house of the legislature
- any state officer, board or commission
- the city attorney of any city or town
- the county attorney or board of county commissioners of any county
Private citizens may not request Attorney General opinions. See Guidelines for Opinion Requests.
The opinions carry the weight of law, unless they are overturned by a court or the legislature changes the law or laws involved.
- Pending Requests
Format Change
Beginning in 2007 with Volume 52, each paragraph of Attorney General's opinions is numbered in a format similar to that used by the Montana Supreme Court. This allows uniform citation to opinions, regardless of how various online versions appear.
- Issued Opinions
- 2010: Volume 53, Opinions 4 -
- 2009: Volume 53, Opinions 1 - 3
- 2008: Volume 52, Opinions 5 - 8
- 2007: Volume 52, Opinions 1 - 4
- 2006: Volume 51, Opinions 13 - 18
- 2005: Volume 51, Opinions 1 - 12
- 2004: Volume 50, Opinions 4 - 10
- 2003: Volume 50, Opinions 1 - 3
- 2002: Volume 49, Opinions 14 - 23
- 2001: Volume 49, Opinions 1 - 13
- 2000: Volume 48, Opinions 9 - 26
- 1999: Volume 48, Opinions 1 - 8
- 1998: Volume 47, Opinions 11 - 22
- 1997: Volume 47, Opinions 1 - 10
- 1996: Volume 46, Opinions 13 - 27
Letters of Advice
Letters of advice are written communications that, unlike formal attorney general opinions, are typically signed by an assistant attorney general (rather than by the Attorney General) and do not have the binding force of law. Letters of advice may be written when an opinion request raises issues that can be determined by reference to clear statutory authority, a prior formal opinion or case law, or are purely local or fact specific matters on which a formal opinion would not have statewide application, or when the Attorney General determines that some guidance for the requesting party would be helpful but a formal opinion would not be appropriate.
