TOPEKA, Kan. — As advocates of increased school funding brought their request to the Kansas Supreme Court on Tuesday, the staunchly conservative Legislature vowed to defy any court orders that it felt trampled on its sovereignty.

Legislative leaders have said that if the court repeats a ruling from a separate case in 2005, when it ordered lawmakers to increase school aid to the constitutionally mandated level, they may refuse to honor the decision because it was up to them to determine how state money is spent.

In court on Tuesday, lawyers for the state argued that it was unreasonable to restrict the Legislature from adjusting to the real-world financial situation.

The Kansas Constitution was “neither a suicide pact, nor a bankruptcy pact,” Stephen R. McAllister, a lawyer for the state, said before the seven-judge panel.