The Minnesota Supreme Court this morning ruled that Governor Tim Pawlenty exceeded his statutory authority when he unalloted funds from the state budget last summer.

The ruling, which upheld a lower court decision, stated that the Governor acted prematurely by unalloting funds in 2009 from the 2010-11 biennial budget. The following is an excerpt from the Supreme Court's ruling:

"Because the legislative and executive branches never enacted a balanced budget for the 2010-11 biennium, use of the unallotment power to address the unresolved deficit exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch by the statute."

Looking ahead, it remains to be seen if this ruling could potentially expand the state's current deficit by an additional $2.7 billion.

Read the Supreme Court's full ruling here.