Chief Justice Hands Speaker a Poisoned Chalice

The Supreme Court votes 4-3 against unallotment:

In a divided decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday morning ruled against Gov. Tim Pawlenty in the unallotment case that challenged whether Pawlenty's emergency budget cuts from last year were permissible.

Chief Justice Eric Magnuson -- a Pawlenty appointee who is stepping down from the court soon -- wrote the decision, which found: "Use of the unallotment power to address the unresolved deficit exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch."

Great news for Margaret Anderson Kelliher and her merry band of DFL spenders, right? Right? Well. . . .

The ruling also could turn the Legislature's budget headache into a full-blown migraine. Lawmakers already face an estimated $536 million deficit through the end of next summer.

They now must determine how much more the deficit will grow as a result of the court's decision and how much deeper they are willing to cut.

Pawlenty used his solo budget-cutting authority last summer to unilaterally cut or shift $2.7 billion from the state budget, including the nutrition program. He made the cuts without legislative approval, at the beginning of the two-year budget cycle -- essentially cutting the Legislature out of the budget process.

Now, let's do that math. $2.7 billion and $536 million is a lot of money. So where do you suppose the money is going to come from? Would Kelliher be willing to try to reinstate everything that T-Paw cut, just because she theoretically can?

As the British might say, not bloody likely. There just isn't $3 billion under the couch cushions at the Capitol, and short of sending Paul Gardner door-to-door through North Oaks with a howitzer and a ski mask, it's difficult to see where the money would come from.

Kelliher didn't need this at all, truth be told. She'll now be under enormous pressure from all her DFL pals to fully fund their wind farms and solar powered Vikings stadiums and whatnot. But without jacking taxes through the roof, there's no money to pay for their wish lists. And T-Paw has no incentive to sign off on a tax increase. About all she and her DFL buddies could get is extra per diem money by trying to force Pawlenty to call a special session. But a special session is the last thing Kelliher wants, because it would inevitably drag on and would coincidentally keep her away from campaigning, allowing Don Quixote de la Entenza and Evacuatin' Dayton to tromp around the state while she's bogged down trying to fight off her own colleagues. Meanwhile, I'm sure Tom Dooher has a few ideas he'd like to share in his next 30 second spot.

So what's the endgame? Kelliher will probably try to reinstate a few symbolic things but won't be able to do much other than ratify the unallotment that Pawlenty implemented last year. That will anger her base, but she'll have no recourse. Meanwhile, T-Paw will have some more funny stories to tell in New Hampshire and Iowa.

Getcha popcorn.