SPRINGFIELD — More than a year and a half ago, the state’s top lawyer asked the state’s top court to decide whether state workers should be paid without a budget.Without explanation, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to weigh in on the matter.Since then, there’s been no long-term budget plan crafted by state lawmakers. And, Attorney General Lisa M. Madigan argues in a new request to the high court this week, a lower court order to keep employee paychecks flowing has morphed into “an …