From City of Maryland Heights v. State, decided Tuesday by the Missouri Supreme Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Paul Wilson:
Officials of political subdivisions in St. Louis County brought suit seeking a declaratory judgment that section 115.646, which prohibits officials from directly using public funds to advocate, support, or oppose a ballot measure or candidate for public office, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution…. Because section 115.646 regulates the use of public funds, not the officials' speech, it does not implicate the free speech clause of the First Amendment….
