Oh, never mind
Lawyer John Gill won't, after all, be able to send a taxi around to Roy Brooks' house or the fancy offices of Brook's high-priced lawyers at Williams & Anderson to pick up money paid them in Brooks' contract buyout by the Little Rock School Board.
The state Supreme Court today lifted its extraordinary ex parte order temporarily staying the payments -- apparently because they had already been made, though the brief order gave no reasoning. The payments made the stay moot, the School Board's lawyer Chip Welch had argued.
The Supreme Court also turned down Gill's request for an expedited appeal. It will hear Gill's appeal in due course. He argues that the state Constitution prohibits contract buyouts. Welch has argued that this payment essentially settles Brooks' lawsuit against the district and is clearly permissible. If it is not permissible, it's been done illegally repeatedly all over Arkansas. At this point, Gill's action gains nothing for the School District or his clients but more legal fees and, perhaps, punishing legal fees and an adverse outcome for Roy Brooks, the man Gill's clients have professed they wanted to help. Strange business, the law. But it's worth noting that Gill is joined by counsel including Eugene Sayre, who's made a good living over the years challenging government payments. If he could get a foot in the door on the Brooks case, even after the cow has been milked, he might could take it around many venues for a payday. Just a theory.
Here's Welch's brief motion giving Gill what-for for threatening contempt proceedings when no orders existed on which people could be held in contempt.
