The Missouri Supreme Court is considering a challenge to a law passed last year that authorized new regulations for writing summaries for ballot measures.
Sean Soendker Nicholson, a progressive political activist based in Kansas City, filed suit, claiming the law is unconstitutional because it covers more than one subject – writing ballot summaries and giving the State Attorney General the authority to appeal preliminary injunctions regarding ballot summaries and other state laws.
Attorney Chuck Hatfield represented Nicholson before the High Court.
“We’re not arguing that the legislature can never amend the procedures for challenging ballot summaries,” Hatfield said. “If they want to do those things, they need to do them in separate bills with clear titles and vote on them as one item at a time.”
Deputy Solicitor General Sam Freedlund disagreed.
“The individual subjects of SB 22 do not need to relate to each other,” he said. “They only need to relate to the overall subject of ‘judicial proceedings,’ which was the title given to the bill before it became law – it was originally titled “ballot summaries prepared by the General Assembly.”
Freedlund also argued that Nicholson does not have legal standing to sue the state over the new law.
Meanwhile, a lower court last year struck down the provision giving the Attorney General sole authority to challenge preliminary injunctions.
The Missouri Supreme Court will rule on the case later.
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