A pair of well-funded national advocacy groups, the libertarian Institute for Justice and the pro-voucher organization EdChoice, announced yesterday that they plan to intervene in the lawsuit filed earlier this month challenging Arkansas’s private school voucher program as unconstitutional.
If granted, this would go well beyond filing an amicus brief: Their goal is to become a third-party litigant in the case. Such an intervention would require standing — they have to show the court they are representing someone who could be directly harmed by the outcome of the case. To that end, they are representing two Arkansas mothers whose children currently make use of the vouchers and a third who hopes to do so in the future. The voucher program was created by Arkansas LEARNS, the sweeping K-12 education law championed by Gov. Sarah Sanders and passed by the state Legislature in 2023.
If the intervention request is granted, these mothers would become additional defendants and the IJ-Ed Choice tandem would represent them in the case. W. Whitfield Hyman of the King Law Group would join as local counsel.
That would presumably make an already complicated case more complicated. Attorney General Tim Griffin‘s office would still be tasked with defending the law, representing the named defendants — the governor, Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, members of the state Board of Education, and the state agencies responsible for education and taxation.
Dan King, an IJ spokesperson, said that support for voucher programs, which the group describes as “educational choice,” is one of IJ’s four core issues. The group has extensive experience litigating these types of cases, King said, including at the Supreme Court.
Joe Gay, an attorney for IJ, said the group has been in touch with Griffin’s office and expect no issue from the attorney general with their intervention:
We informed the AG’s office about our intention to move to intervene, and our understanding is that they do not oppose our motion. In our experience defending educational choice programs, the state usually welcomes the participation of families who rely on the program and who deserve to have a voice in its defense.
*Update: Griffin offered this comment: “I appreciate the support of the Institute for Justice and EdChoice, and I will continue to vigorously defend the LEARNS Act.”