Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem last week rejected Gov. Jay Nixon's request to stop Auditor Tom Schweich's lawsuit, and ordered the parties into court Dec. 16 for a status conference to discuss the next steps in the case.
Schweich filed the nine-page lawsuit Aug. 26, asking the court to declare that Nixon's June 10 budget withholdings for the current state business year violated the Missouri Constitution.
Schweich also wants the court to order Nixon and his staff to restore all of the withheld and reallocated funds to the original budget lines that lawmakers intended in last spring's budget bills, and to prohibit Nixon from making any withholds or reallocations that are "not in compliance with" the state Constitution's Article IV, Sections 23-27.