The Montana Supreme Court will proceed with a full bench to consider a challenge to a new law that allows the governor to appoint judges and justices to court vacancies.
An order filed Tuesday says Judge Matthew Wald from the 22nd judicial district in southeast Montana will substitute for Chief Justice Mike McGrath, who has recused himself after he urged Gov. Greg Gianforte not to sign the legislation.
The court did not order more extensive briefing or oral argument.
The case has sparked an investigation by Republican lawmakers into alleged bias in the state’s judicial branch and misuse of state resources. That investigation is expected to extend beyond the end of the legislative session.
give the engineer enough time to stop that kind of an accident from happening but it is supposed to give information to the train. for example, if two trains are on the same track and they re headed on a collision course or one is not moving ahead fast enough, that s the kind of thing that positive train control can tell the engineer. if there s a work car on the track, a train car working on the track. okay. mary and matthew on the phone, let s go over some of this information here. shortly after 9:30, right around 9:30 they got the call saying there was an issue and once they got there they said they had six overturned train cars that they saw. the train was en route from washington d.c. to new york. five people confirmed dead. 243 people on board the train and that includes five amtrak
the engineer was high on drugs. you can get all sorts of problems. the train system is getting more automated and that s positive train control. and that can eliminate a category of accidents but at the moment we don t know what category this accident is in. uh-huh. mary, you want to talk about that? and matthew s exactly right. positive train control is something that gives the train and the conductor and the people working on the track, anyone in relationship with the train and track, gives them information about where the train is on the track and what else is on the track and it uses various sensors and computer communication. however it won t stop things like a tractor trailer pulls on to the track. the positive train control won t stop in time or won t be able to
never seen anything like this in my life. matthew wald joins us now and he is an accident expert. math yo matthew, you said this is one of amtrak s worst accidents? yes. the railroad has a pretty good safety record and the northeast corridor generally has a good safety worker. they have occasional accidents where a track worker is struck. these accidents are infrequent and there s a reason. they are pretty well engineered and pretty well maintained. something has gone wrong either with the train or the track or both. they are both amtrak s problem, both amtrak s issue. in the past they have had a crash because i think it was back in the early 70s because
derek sawyer who provide a time loob line of exactly what happened. take a listen. 9:3. fire personnel responded encountered six overturned trains. we declare it a mass casualty event. at 9:35. we struck out the third alarm. then at 10:24 we struck the fourth alarm. as the mayor said that brings 33 apparatus, 122 personnel. it is a level three mass casualty incident means 18 medic units brought on scene. we have a total of six critical transports to temple university, einstein, tarsdale, and a total of 43 transports, buses, medic units for less critical injuries. others are walking wounded. derek sawyer there. former the new york times safety expert matthew wald said