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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana's attorney general ended a political feud with the state's new governor on Thursday over Common Core, saying he agrees it is time to drop a lawsuit claiming that federal authorities were trying to force states to adopt the math and English education standards.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who took office earlier this month, had moved recently to dismiss the suit, filed last year by then Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Jindal, a Republican who made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination, had already lost at the district court level.
Edwards, a Democrat, has been a critic of Common Core. But he said the former governor's appeal was expensive and unnecessary, given a new federal law, known as the "Every Student Succeeds Act," which bars the federal government from mandating standards. He also noted the state's recent work to revise the standards.
Landry, a Republican, said Edwards was too quick to drop the lawsuit, leading to a war of words in publicly released letters and in court filings.
But, Thursday afternoon he joined Edwards' motion to dismiss the suit.
"The Attorney General, after independently reviewing this matter, has concluded he no longer opposes dismissing this appeal," Landry attorney Elizabeth Murrill wrote in a motion at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
That motion came shortly after Edwards' executive counsel, Matthew Block, filed a motion saying Landry had no authority to intervene in a lawsuit Jindal had filed on behalf of the governor's office.
By virtue of "the simple fact that Louisiana has only one governor at a time," the new governor became the new plaintiff, Block said.
Block also pointed to a 1990 federal court decision which held that, under the Louisiana Constitution, the attorney general is an executive branch officer "inferior to the Governor."
"Put simply, the Attorney General does not have procedural or constitutional authority to substitute himself into this case, nor does he have the authority to override the Governor's decision about its direction," Block wrote.
In a news release, Landry said he wanted to take over the case to give him time to review the facts. He said his review came at no cost to taxpayers, but led him to conclude that dismissal was proper in light of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
"When constitutional principles are at stake, it is my duty and responsibility as the State's chief legal officer to precisely, patiently, and proficiently review the legal course of action," Landrieu said.
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