46th Circuit Trial Court v. Crawford County

We granted leave to appeal to consider this funding dispute between the 46th Circuit Trial Court (hereafter the Trial Court) and two of its three county funding units. This case involves a conflict between the legislative branch’s exercise of the “legislative power” to appropriate and to tax, and the judicial branch’s inherent power to compel sufficient appropriations to allow the judiciary to carry out its essential judicial functions. Specifically, the Trial Court seeks to compel the defendant counties to appropriate funding for the enhanced pension and retiree health care plans it deems…