The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision rules that the U.S. Department of Justice does not have the right to intervene in Louisiana’s voucher program. This ruling reverses the April 2014 decision in favor of the DOJ for requests for data and oversight.
Judge Edith Jones writes in the Conclusion in Case No. 14-31010:
DOJ’s attempt to shoehorn its regulation of the voucher program into an entirely unrelated forty-year-old case represents more than ineffective lawyering. Despite the district court’s contrary conclusion, it seems plain that DOJ’s expressed concern — how the voucher program affects statewide public schools racially — has nothing to do with the narrow issues considered in the Brumfield
litigation. DOJ’s bold strategy, if upheld, would circumvent the ordinary litigation process in two ways. The reports it seeks do not fall under the auspices of discovery permitted by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which authorize the compelled production of information only after a complaint alleges violations of law. Here, there was no complaint, hence no basis for DOJ to intrude into the affairs of Louisiana and its disadvantaged student population. American discovery follows the common law adversary process,
not the civil law’s inquisitorial process, yet DOJ seeks to be the inquisitor. Even more disturbing, DOJ’s motion, as explained in the November 2013 hearing, essentially foretells its attempt — through pre-award “back and forth” with the state on every single voucher — to regulate the program without any legal judgment against the state. This court may not speculate why DOJ chose to avoid the path of litigation to prove a violation and there after enforce a remedy against the state and its school children. What is clear is that DOJ chose an unauthorized means to accomplish the same result.
The district court did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the DOJ’s motion for further relief, which was outside the continuing jurisdiction of the 1975 order and the 1985 consent decree. Therefore, the April Order is void and the denial of the 60(b)(4) motion is reversed.For the foregoing reasons, the April 2014 order of the district court is REVERSED, the injunctive requirements for “further relief” are DISSOLVED, and the case is remanded with instructions to DISMISS the Motion for Further Relief.
[Click here for more on Louisiana’s voucher program]
BACKGROUND:
The Department of Justice first filed a motion against the Louisiana Scholarship Program on August 24, 2013, acting on a claim that the Program impeded desegregation efforts, which was later debunked by a state-commissioned report. Department of Justice efforts sought to block the further issuance of vouchers in school districts with standing desegregation orders until it could be proven that the approximately 600 voucher-receiving students from those districts were not compromising the desegregation process.
In April 2014, the initial injunction against the program was dropped, with a District Court Judge ruling the State of Louisiana could continue with the overwhelmingly popular School Choice Scholarship Program without unwarranted intervention, however federal requests for data and oversight were not dropped.
IN THE NEWS:
Jindal scores a win with appeals court voucher ruling (Politico)
Federal Court Rules in Favor of Louisiana School Children (American Federation for Children)