STLPR0%

Judge rules minimum funding for St. Louis police does not violate state constitution 17%

By Rachel Lippmann0%

6/15/2026, 8:57:18 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Self-Serving Bias, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Confirmation Bias, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 22.7% saturation with 82 hits. Analysis detected 738 faulty-reasoning hits from 362 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.4% and a BS Rank of 17% (17,717 of 21,180 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 83.60% of the article peer group.

A Cole County judge has ruled that the 2025 law that requires the City of St. 
Louis to give 25% of its general revenue to its police department by 2028 does not violate Missouri’s constitution. 
In an opinion issued Monday, Judge Daniel Green wrote that even though the state budget does not include any additional money for those minimum funding provisions, an exception to the Hancock Amendment for state-appointed Board of Police Commissioners means the minimum funding is not an unconstitutional unfunded mandate. 
Although voters passed that exception when Kansas City was the only department under state control, Green wrote, “other statutes remained on the books that would have put a city under board control if certain conditions were met. 
Thus, if the exception was meant to apply only to Kansas City, the exception would have explicitly named Kansas City.” 
Green also rejected arguments that the police board bill was an unconstitutional special law because it was written solely to apply to St. 
Louis. 
But he gave challengers  activists and city residents Mike Milton and Jamala Rogers  a small victory by striking down part of the law that gives lifetime health insurance to officers hired while the department was under control of the St. 
Louis Board of Aldermen. 
The ruling was not a surprise. 
Green had telegraphed his thoughts on the final day of a May trial in Jefferson City. 
Maureen Hanlon, managing attorney with ArchCity Defenders, which filed the case, said in a statement that the judge’s opinion “demonstrates that there are, in fact, limits to the amount of city funds the Board of Police Commissioners can demand. 
We will be appealing to get a final determination on these limits, and on this legal scheme more broadly, which we and our clients believe violates the Missouri constitution." 
It is the second opinion from Green upholding the constitutionality of state control of the St. 
Louis Metropolitan Police Department. 
He ruled on Friday in a case brought by Board of Aldermen President Megan Green that the bill reestablishing the police commission did not violate single-subject or clear-title requirements. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 15.2%Rachel Lippmann: 2.5%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.4%Confirmation Bias15.2%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 1.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.2%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 1.7%Rachel Lippmann: 2.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.7%Availability Heuristic1.7%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 6.1%Rachel Lippmann: 0.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.5%Hindsight Bias6.1%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 1.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 1.7%Rachel Lippmann: 7.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 7.3%Framing Effect1.7%This article: 11.6%Rachel Lippmann: 1.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.1%Loss Aversion11.6%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 1.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.0%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 4.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 4.8%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 2.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.9%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 11.6%Rachel Lippmann: 7.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 7.1%Negativity Bias11.6%This article: 18.8%Rachel Lippmann: 3.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 3.1%Self-Serving Bias18.8%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 1.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.2%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 2.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.4%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 4.4%Rachel Lippmann: 0.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.0%Recency Bias4.4%This article: 4.4%Rachel Lippmann: 0.5%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.3%Primacy Effect4.4%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 1.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.4%Straw Man0.0%This article: 22.7%Rachel Lippmann: 3.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 3.6%Appeal to Authority22.7%This article: 5.5%Rachel Lippmann: 2.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.3%False Dilemma5.5%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 4.4%Rachel Lippmann: 2.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 3.7%Hasty Generalization4.4%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 10.8%Rachel Lippmann: 7.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 6.6%Appeal to Emotion10.8%This article: 13.3%Rachel Lippmann: 1.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Begging the Question13.3%This article: 4.4%Rachel Lippmann: 1.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)4.4%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 8.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.4%Burden of Proof8.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 10.8%Rachel Lippmann: 1.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.6%Anecdotal10.8%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 18.8%Rachel Lippmann: 1.7%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.3%Ambiguity (Equivocation)18.8%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 10.8%Rachel Lippmann: 1.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Unattributed Quote10.8%This article: 10.2%Rachel Lippmann: 1.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection10.2%This article: 8.8%Rachel Lippmann: 1.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.8%Biased Writer Voice8.8%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.1%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rachel Lippmann: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.7%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

362 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers54%attributed speech166writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 6 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageJudge Daniel Green • 48 words • 0.0% coverageJudge Daniel Green • 37 words • 100.0% coverageJudge Daniel Green • 20 words • 0.0% coverageJudge Daniel Green • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 42 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageMaureen Hanlon • 39 words • 100.0% coverageMaureen Hanlon • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Maureen Hanlon

100%flagged-word coverage
68 attributed words35% of attributed speech95% writer coverage
0%30.0%60.0%Unattributed Quote+57.4 ptsWriter: 0.0%Maureen Hanlon: 57.4%57.4%Biased Writer Voice-19.3 ptsWriter: 19.3%Maureen Hanlon: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.