The U.S. Senate confirmed 16 U.S. attorneys, including Great Falls native Kurt Alme for the District of Montana, on Oct. 7.

Alme was appointed by U. S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and sworn in by Chief U. S. District Judge Brian Morris on March 17, serving on an interim basis for a period of 120 days or until a presidential nominee has been confirmed by the Senate.

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Timothy Racicot, who was previously the first assistant U.S. attorney, which is the number two position in the district, was the acting U.S. attorney since Feb. 17.

Keri Leggett, spokesperson of the office, told The Electric this spring that Racicot had taken over automatically under the Vacancy Reform Act, and since Alme has been sworn in, now returns to his previous position.

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Alme previously served as an assistant U. S. attorney in Montana from 2003 to 2010, focusing on financial investigations involving white collar fraud, government program fraud, bankruptcy fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

Alme also served as the first assistant U. S. attorney from 2006 to 2010, before leaving to serve as the executive vice president and later president and general counsel of the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch Foundation.

In September 2017, Alme was confirmed as Montana’s U. S. attorney, a post he held until December 2020.

Since then, he served as state budget director for Gov. Greg Gianforte and most recently as the executive vice president for planned giving with the National Christian Foundation until returning to the U.S. attorney’s office.

In March, Josh Racki, Cascade County Attorney and president of the Montana County Attorneys Association, submitted a letter to Montana senators on behalf of the MCAA supporting Alme.

Racki was appointed as county attorney in 2017, ran as a Democrat in 2018 and 2022, and in August announced he was switching to the Republican party for his 2026 reelection bid.

In the letter, Racki wrote that under Alme’s previous tenure as a U.S. attorney, the office increased federal criminal prosecutions by 15 percent, including drug trafficking, violent crime on Native American reservations, child exploitation, human trafficking, financial fraud, immigration violations and firearms offenses.

“The MCAA firmly believes that Mr. Alme’s comprehensive understanding of Montana’s unique challenges, his
collaborative approach, and his unwavering dedication to justice make him the ideal candidate for U.S.
attorney. We respectfully urge the Department of Justice and our esteemed senators to support his nomination.
The members of the Montana County Attorneys Association Board are confident his leadership will continue to
benefit the people of Montana,” Racki wrote on behalf of the organization.

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Leggett said this spring that Alme remains a licensed attorney and the Montana Bar Association shows him as an active member.

Alme is a Great Falls native who graduated from Custer County District High School in Miles City.

He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado summa cum laude and his law degree from Harvard Law School cum laude. After graduation from law school, he clerked for Montana U. S. District Judge Charles Lovell, was a partner in the regional law firm now known as Crowley Fleck, and served as director of the Montana Department of Revenue under Gov. Judy Martz.

“I am grateful to Attorney General Bondi for the opportunity to serve again as U.S. attorney for Montana,” Alme said in a release. “The U. S. attorney’s office has an outstanding group of people who are giving their careers to make Montana safer and fairly represent the U.S. in legal matters. I look forward to again working with them and all of our dedicated federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement and prosecuting partners to continue the important work of combating violent crime, the trafficking of methamphetamine and fentanyl and illegal immigration.”