HELENA — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined without comment to hear two cases from Montana.
In the first case, the nation’s high court dismissed a request from Montana Attorney General Tim Fox to reconsider a previous ruling that he says prevents the state from bringing a sex offender to justice in a 1987 child rape case.
Fox sought to charge Ronald Dwight Tipton for the rape of an 8-year-old girl based on new DNA evidence, but a 2003 court decision says it’s unconstitutional to charge him after the statute of limitations has expired.
The second case is a challenge to Montana’s campaign disclosure laws.
Montanans Against Community Development petitioned the court after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected its case to strike down the law that requires groups such as itself to disclose its donors and spending.