OKLAHOMA CITY,OK (AP) - The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge against the state's Contingency Review Board.

The state's highest court took the action Monday in a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent, who alleged the three-member board was unconstitutional. The board consists of the governor, the House speaker and the Senate president pro tem.

The board voted in December to settle a federal class-action lawsuit against the Department of Human Services. But Fent claimed the board's makeup of members of the executive and legislative branches of state government violates the Oklahoma Constitution's separation of powers provisions.

Fent argued his case before a Supreme Court referee last month and says he's disappointed the full court refused to give him a hearing. All nine court justices concurred in the decision.

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