Missouri Supreme Court

Gooch was a judge on the Southern District Court of Appeals before being selected to the Supreme Court.

St. Louis argues in its lawsuit that the law legislators passed in 2021 violates the state’s constitution by creating an unfunded mandate for the city and for containing too many unrelated provisions.

Kelly Broniec’s appointment to the state’s highest court creates a women-led majority. Gov. Mike Parson also appointed Broniec to the Eastern District Court of Appeals in 2020.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's office filed a brief arguing a trial court decision that forbid the state from zeroing out the Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood services should be reversed.

After a Cole County judge invalidated the regulations in 2021, then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt decided not to appeal the case. Local governments, which had used their authority granted by the regulations to issue pandemic-era restrictions such as mask mandates, wanted the right to defend them in court.

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Robin Ransom wrote, with five in concurrence, that the unexcused absences in the case violated state law.

Cole County Judge Beetem promises fast decision on the case.

The unanimous verdict was scathing in its assessment of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who refused to sign off on the work of Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The court concluded that nothing in state law “gives the attorney general authority to question the auditor’s assessment of the fiscal impact of a proposed petition.”

The hearing was on an appeal of a ruling requiring the attorney general’s office to sign off on the expected cost to the state of adding abortion rights to the Missouri Constitution.

The court ruled that the Missouri Conservation Commission — not lawmakers — has the power to spend appropriated funds. The decision could influence a pending Cole County case over how much Department of Transportation employees get paid.