Montana Shooting Sports Ass'n v. State, 2010 MT 8

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court upheld Montana's requirement that applicants for wildlife conservation licenses provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. The court held that the requirement did not implicate the fundamental right of privacy under the Montana Constitution because applicants lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the state’s collection of the information. Applying rational basis review, the court concluded that the requirement was rationally related to legitimate state interests, including compliance with federal child-support enforcement requirements and continued federal funding.

Holdings

1. The statutory requirement that wildlife conservation license applicants provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers does not implicate the applicants' fundamental right of privacy because their expectation of privacy in avoiding the government's collection of this information is unreasonable.
2. Because the statute does not implicate the fundamental right of privacy, rational-basis review, rather than strict scrutiny, applies.
3. The Social Security number requirement satisfies rational-basis review because it is rationally related to legitimate state interests in retaining federal child-support-enforcement funding and tools and supporting the welfare of Montana children.
4. Wildlife conservation licenses fall within the meaning of recreational licenses in 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(13).

Questions Presented

1. Whether § 87-2-202(1), MCA, requiring applicants for wildlife conservation licenses to provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, infringes the fundamental right of privacy under Article II, § 10 of the Montana Constitution.
2. Whether the federal requirement in 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(13) applies to wildlife conservation licenses as recreational licenses.

Disposition

affirmed