Just hours after hearing arguments, Maryland's highest court ruled Tuesday that a referendum on whether to allow slots at the Arundel Mills mall can move forward, Baltimore Sun colleague Nicole Fuller reports.

The Court of Appeals issued the ruling after justices asking pointed questions about the reasoning behind a lower court ruling that blocked the referendum.

Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth had ruled last month that the referendum was illegal because the zoning legislation to authorize a subsidiary of the Baltimore-based Cordish Companies to build a billion-dollar casino is part of an appropriation package. According to state law, appropriations — or spending allowances — cannot be decided by voters at the ballot box.

Lawyers for community groups the Maryland Jockey Club, which financed a successful referendum effort to challenge zoning approval for Cordish Cos. to build the state's largest slots casino, appealed the decision to the state's highest court.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has issued a statement supporting "the right for the people of Anne Arundel County to have their voices heard on whether slots should be located at Arundel Mills Shopping Mall."

“I have always preferred that these slots locations be limited to race tracks, but this is a local zoning issue that should be decided by the people of Anne Arundel County, just as Marylanders overwhelmingly approved the slots referendum in 2008," O'Malley said.