Lawsuits asks jduge's racist emails be released

BILLINGS (AP) — Attorneys for two journalists have filed a lawsuit seeking the disclosure of hundreds of racist and inappropriate emails from Montana's former Chief U.S. District Judge.

The California Civil Rights Law Group filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in California, where federal court officials have been holding the emails from Judge Richard Cebull.

Cebull resigned last year after an investigation into a racist email he sent involving President Barack Obama that was first reported by The Great Falls Tribune newspaper. The investigation found Cebull had sent hundreds of other inappropriate messages.

Court officials have refused to make the emails public and sought to dismiss a pending petition to preserve them.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are former Tribune reporter John Adams and Shane Castle with Big Sky Investigative Reporting.