Missouri Circuit Court rules amendments to section 526.010 RSMo. unconstitutional

In Nicholson v. State of Missouri, No. 25AC-CC03765, Judge Green in Cole County Circuit Court ruled that amendments to Section 526.010 RSMo. within Senate Bill 22 (“SB 22”) unlawfully impinged on the right to an appeal, and therefore violated Article I, Section 2 of the Missouri Constitution. Section 526.010 RSMo. as amended by SB 22, provided “the Attorney General—and only the Attorney General—has the right to appeal a preliminary injunction that enjoins the state or a statewide official ‘from implementing, enforcing, or otherwise effectuating any provision of the Constitution of Missouri, any Missouri statute, or any Missouri regulation.’” Nicholson, at 2. As these amendments limited the ability of anyone not the Attorney General to appeal a grant or denial of a preliminary injunction, which Judge Green also ruled was a fundamental right in accordance with prior caselaw, a limitation on the right to appeal violated equal rights and opportunity under the law. Judge Green also ruled that the rest of SB 22 passed constitutional muster and that Section 526.010 RSMo.’s amendments could be severed from the remainder of SB 22.