Missouri Covid Aid Suit Rightly Tossed, Eighth Circuit Says (2)

Missouri lacked standing to challenge spending restrictions on nearly $200 billion in federal Covid-19 relief funds to states, the second federal appeals court to consider the issue affirmed.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Thursday that Missouri’s alleged injury—"threatened unconstitutional application” of the tax offset restriction in the American Rescue Plan Act—isn’t actual or imminent.

“Instead, Missouri asks us to declare, in the abstract, what a statute does not mean,” Judge Jane Kelly wrote for the court.

The ruling creates a circuit split with the other appeals court ...