Hill, et al. vs. Bobby Jindal
On June 17, 2015, a panel of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed an injunction entered in August 2014 against Governor Bobby Jindal and his agencies that prevented them from interfering with the implementation of Common Core State Standards in Louisiana public schools. In this matter, the Firm represented the plaintiffs – a group of parents and teachers, along with a charter school management organization – who filed a petition in late July 2014 seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, contending that the Governor’s efforts to interfere with state assessments aligned with Common Core standards were an encroachment on rights reserved under the state constitution to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Education. The district court granted the plaintiffs’ request for preliminary injunctive relief. In a lengthy decision that quoted extensively from the trial record, the First Circuit affirmed the district court’s order. The plaintiffs were represented by Stephen H. Kupperman and Michael A. Balascio.