Plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the state takeover of the Little Rock School District today asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to expedite consideration of an argument that put a halt to proceedings yesterday.
The state has argued it is immune from this lawsuit. Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen denied that motion. The state took an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court and that court, without elaboration, put a halt to further proceedings until it could design the sovereign immunity question.
Today, Willard Proctor, attorney for plaintiffs — some former School Board members and district residents — asked for an expedited briefing schedule that would end April 7. The motion said the school board members are “irreparably harmed each day they are denied the opportunity to perform their statutory and constitutional duties. Appellees, who are registered voters, are irreparably harmed each day they are denied to the voice and access their elected Board members provided. Appellees, who are parents, are irreparably harmed each day their access to the elected officials they can hold directly accountable to them for their children’s education is denied.”
Proctor also opposed the state’s request to supplement the record. He said the argument should be limited to the complaint, the state’s motion to dismiss and the trial court order. He said material plaintiffs had prepared for the preliminary injunction hearing shouldn’t be added because they might be prejudicial without a completed injunction hearing and full record. The proceeding was halted when word of the Supreme Court stay came down.