Over six years ago the Cuyahoga County Commissioners filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the State of Ohio. They accused the state of unlawfully diverting federal TANF funds away from their purpose of aiding the needy and instead using them to balance the state budget. After winning in two lower courts, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today that the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners didn't have standing to challenge state's transfer of TANF and Title XX funds to the General Revenue Fund without evidence that it suffered a direct and concrete injury. This effectively ends the lawsuit.

The most recent legal arguments took a somewhat bizarre turn earlier this year when the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors office missed a March 8 deadline for filling the proper paperwork with the Ohio Supreme Court and were therefore denied the chance to argue their case orally in court.

The decision was written by Justice Judith Lanzinger and the other justices unanimously concurred with the judgment.