Laxalt seeks dismissal of lawsuit in support of school-choice bill

By Ian Whitaker

Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 | 4:56 p.m.

Attorney General Adam Laxalt has been fighting for months to defend the state’s landmark new school-choice bill from lawsuits alleging the law is unconstitutional, but now he could have to fight one of his own.

Laxalt on Thursday announced a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed in support of the law last month by fellow Republican and Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, saying the move “endangers the State’s ongoing defense of the education savings account program.”

Hutchison, a private attorney, filed the lawsuit on behalf of two parents seeking to defend the program from lawsuits questioning the law’s constitutionality. But for months Laxalt and his office have been the ones tasked with defending the program in court.

The program, passed by the Legislature last year, puts more than $5,000 in state education money into a savings account that qualifying families can use to pay for things such as private school tuition and tutoring.

In a statement released Thursday, Laxalt accused Hutchison of muddling the state’s case with an unnecessary lawsuit.

“My office believes that the suit does nothing but distract and divide the State’s efforts to defend the program from the two real challenges to the ESA program which lawyers in my office have been working non-stop to brief, argue and defend,” the statement reads.

Laxalt also called on the court to disqualify Hutchison from representing the parents, citing a conflict of interest and accusing him of ethical breaches. Hutchison was involved in representing the pro-school-choice Institute for Justice in an earlier suit, in which his firm reportedly gained access to confidential legal information used by Laxalt’s office.

Hutchison could not be reached for comment through his law firm.

The motion comes on the heels of a concerted effort by Laxalt and the Treasurer’s Office to persuade Hutchison to drop the suit.

“The unanswered question is, what is Mr. Hutchison thinking?” said Treasurer Dan Schwartz, charged with overseeing the rollout of the ESA program, in a statement Thursday. “Does he think that he can do a better job representing the State than Attorney General Adam Laxalt?”

Judges have been hearing arguments both for and against the program in recent weeks, though the matter could ultimately end up with an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Republican lawmakers pushed through SB302 in last year’s Legislature, which established the voucher-like ESA program.

Support for the program has largely fallen along party lines, with Republicans claiming it will allow parents to opt out of failing schools and Democrats calling it a government subsidy for private schools.