Court rejects motion on Planned Parenthood case

The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Attorney General Jay Nixon's request for a better explanation of why he must choose sides in a case involving family planning funding and abortions.

Last week, the court ruled that Nixon had a conflict of interest because he had defended two different interpretations of the law -- one backed by lawmakers and the other by the state health director, Maureen Dempsey.

Under budget restrictions passed in 1999, state family planning money is prohibited from going to organizations that share a name, facility, expenses, employee wages or equipment with an affiliated abortion provider.

Planned Parenthood of Mid-Missouri and Kansas and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region challenged the law.

Nixon's office defended Dempsey, who had agreed to contracts with Planned Parenthood operations that had slightly different names, thus allowing them to receive family planning money.

But Nixon also hired an outside counsel, Jordan Cherrick, to defend the Legislature's position that Planned Parenthood should not receive money under the language it adopted.

After the Supreme Court's Jan. 22 ruling that Nixon had a conflict of interest, Nixon attempted to drop his defense of the Legislature's position. But a lower court judge ordered all sides to appear in court in February to comply with the Supreme Court decision.

Nixon then asked the Supreme Court to clarify its ruling. Justices rejected that motion Thursday without explanation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also had been scheduled to meet this week to discuss the case, but the hearing was canceled.

Sen. David Klarich, the committee chairman and an attorney, said the court's decision is likely to affect how the attorney general handles other cases involving state entities.