By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A federal appeals court has rejected Missouri's efforts to keep the Air National Guard unit in St. Louis off a list of military sites slated for closure.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis denied the state's request without comment. Attorney General Jay Nixon immediately filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The developments come a day after U.S. District Judge Jean Hamilton in St. Louis said the state was premature in challenging the plan to move fighter jets from the 131st Fighter Wing to bases in Nevada and Montana.
More than a half dozen other states have also contested plans to close National Guard units. The deadline is today for the base closing commission to make its final recommendations to President Bush.