The Louisiana Supreme Court granted Attorney General Murrill’s request on behalf of the State for a stay in Crockett v. State of Louisiana, temporarily pausing the 19th JDC’s preliminary injunction and all further proceedings pending the Louisiana Supreme Court’s review. The ruling had prohibited the State from physically combining the two Orleans Parish Clerk of Court offices.

The stay confirms what the State has maintained from the beginning: the case was unlikely to succeed on the merits. The State anticipates the Louisiana Supreme Court will ultimately issue an opinion confirming that conclusion. In the meantime, the Court’s order preserves the status quo while the legal issues presented in the case are fully considered.

Read the ruling here.

On May 8, Attorney General Liz Murrill sent a letter to Orleans City Council Chairman J.P. Morrell and members of the council, as well as Mayor Helena Moreno, on this very subject.

“We are seeking priority review in a case involving Act 15, which transferred the criminal clerk’s duties to the office of the civil clerk and renamed that statutorily created office. This matter needs to be resolved quickly, and that’s what we are asking the Louisiana Supreme Court to do. The Orleans Parish D.A. and the Mayor’s request that the City Council act to fill a fictional new office with an ‘interim clerk’ will only create chaos that does not now exist. I’ve explained why the D.A.’s letter to the Council is legally wrong and requested that the Council let the Court do its job,” said Attorney General Liz Murrill.

Read that letter here.