HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled Friday that a lawsuit over the use of tobacco settlement money to balance the state budget was brought by people who did not have standing.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously for the governor and legislative leaders and against those who wanted the tobacco money used for two health care related programs, reversing a lower court.

The decision involves whether the state’s revenues from a landmark 1998 settlement with tobacco companies had to go to adultBasic and Medicaid for disabled workers. The court said a provision in the state’s 2001 Tobacco Settlement Act gave state policymakers flexibility in how the funds are used.

“In terms of adultBasic, from the outset, the Legislature expressed the manifest intention that subscribers should have no claim on commonwealth funds,” wrote Chief Justice Thomas Saylor. “The Commonwealth Court, then, should not have permitted the legislative and executive branches to be haled into court based on such prohibited claims.”

Drew Crompton, top lawyer for the Senate Republicans, said the decision validated their position.

“The adultBasic program was not an entitlement and therefore was a discretionary program,” Crompton said. Then-Gov. “Rendell stopped funding the program and therefore it needed to come to a close.