U.S. District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky will replace a judge who recused herself from a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a section of the LEARNS Act that prohibits “indoctrination” in Arkansas schools.
Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker recused herself Tuesday, a day after the case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, “to avoid the appearance of impropriety,” according to court documents. No other explanation was given.
The case was reassigned to Rudofsky on Wednesday. Former President Donald Trump nominated Rudofsky for a seat on the court in 2019. Rudofsky is a graduate of Harvard Law School and previously served as Solicitor General in the Arkansas Attorney General’s office.
Also on Wednesday, Rudofsky filed an order inviting amicus (friend-of-the-court) briefs in this case and any others on his docket. Amicus briefs are typically filed after a case is appealed, but Rudofsky writes that “such briefs could have considerably more impact at the district court level than they have at the circuit court level or even at the Supreme Court.”
“While the majority of cases on a district court’s docket don’t warrant amicus briefing, there are a healthy number of cases each year that do,” his order states.
Civil rights attorneys Mike Laux and Austin Porter Jr. filed the lawsuit Monday on behalf of three Little Rock Central High students, their parents and an AP African American Studies teacher.
The AP African American Studies course is being piloted in hundreds of schools across the country, including six in Arkansas. The pilot came under scrutiny after Gov. Sarah Huckabee signed an executive order banning “indoctrination” on her first day in office. Similar language was later incorporated into the LEARNS Act, a new law that makes sweeping changes to the state’s education system.
The Arkansas Department of Education abruptly removed the advanced placement course from its list of approved courses days before the start of the 2023-2024 school year last August. As a result, students could not receive graduation credit for taking the pilot.
According to a statement from the Laux Law Group, Section 16 of the LEARNS Act is “a brazen, political attempt to silence speech and expression” that the governor and education secretary disagree with.
“The LEARNS Act violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” the statement reads. “It is unworkably vague and oppressive, and it discriminates on the basis of race. Section 16 is just another front in the culture war being waged by right-wing ideologues.”
Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said Monday that the state education department approved the course for the 2024-2025 school year and will continue working with districts to ensure courses are in compliance with the LEARNS Act.
“The lawsuit falsely accuses ADE of not allowing students to participate in the AP African American Studies pilot program and stripped them from the benefits that the course provides — a total lie,” he said. “The department advised schools they could offer local course credit to students who complete the pilot, and six schools participated.”
This is not the first time the LEARNS Act has been challenged in the courts. A group of Arkansans filed a lawsuit challenging the LEARNS Act’s emergency clause last May.
The months-long court battle ended in October when the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling invalidating the LEARNS Act’s emergency clause and dismissed the case.
Also last summer, Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES) pursued a referendum to overturn the LEARNS Act, but the group failed to gather enough signatures to place the measure on the 2024 ballot.
