by Tricia McKinney

A Nevada judge has ruled that NBC News has to let Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich debate on MSNBC tonight.

But as of late yesterday, MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said the network is filing an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court. Kucinich campaign spokesman Andy Juniewicz told me he had the 112-page filing in his hands, but couldn't tell me if the Nevada Supreme Court will hear the case or when.

Juniewicz tells me the candidate is on a plane bound for Las Vegas right now and is planning to attend a rally somewhere near the debate site this afternoon. When I asked him if Kucinich will be at the debate, he told me the candidate has a ticket — it's called a signed court order.

The issue? Kucinich's camp says their candidate was initially invited to the Democratic debate, but was later cut from it. MSNBC's side? The network decided to go with the top three candidates after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries — that's Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.

They don't have a ton of time to figure this out. The debate is scheduled to happen at 9 p.m. Eastern time — 6 p.m. in Nevada. It's about 10:42 a.m. there as I post this.