On July 20, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an opinion in State ex rel Fitz-James v Bailey, SC100132. It is unanimous, although one justice didn’t participate. It says the Attorney General cannot block an initiative on abortion law simply because he disagrees with the Auditor’s estimate of how much the government would need to spend if the initiative passed.

In Missouri, the initiative petitions cannot start to circulate until the measure has a title and a cost estimate. The Attorney General has delayed the start of the petition drive by 100 days because he asserted he disagrees with the Auditor’s figure. The Court said the Attorney General does not have the authority to interfere with the cost estimate. Here is the opinion. Thanks to several people for the news.