A suit filed by six Republican members of the Legislature will proceed to arguments before the Supreme Court July 27.

Citing the potential that the constitutional rights of Minnesotans could be violated if the courts were not operational,a judge the courts will remain funded in a shutdown.

Four GOP senators were rebuffed, as they were last week in the main shutdown case, in their effort to join as separate parties.

The dismissal, issued without prejudice, leaves the lawmakers to take up their claim with the rest of the shutdown case in Ramsey County Court, but also leaves the door open to refile after that decision is handed out.

The suit, filed this week by four GOP senators, asks the Supreme Court to not allow any state money to spent in the event of a government shutdown July 1.

The resolution, similar to one passed by the Senate Rules Committee last week, OKs arguing the Legislature's position that it be allowed to remain operational enough to eventually bring the shutdown to a close.

Four GOP senators have filed a petition in Ramsey County District Court seeking to prohibit the judicial branch from spending state dollars if a government shutdown occurs. The legal brief argues that only the legislative branch has the constitutional authority to appropriate funds.

On Monday, yet another legal petition regarding the terms of a state government shutdown is expected to be filed in Ramsey County District Court, and this one makes a very simple case: In the event of a shutdown, priority funding should go to — no one. Nothing gets funded. Any such arrangement is illegal on its face according to the Minnesota Constitution.

A new lawsuit pertaining to a possible state government shutdown will join a slew of others filed this week, including petitions from Gov. Mark Dayton and Attorney General Lori Swanson, who are attempting to define what agencies and programs would be funded in the event of a shutdown.

With two weeks left until the end of the biennial budget cycle, the largest question facing the state is increasingly not whether the government will be forced to shut down July 1, but just how much will be shuttered when it does.