Court Opinion

ID: 9394047
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-12 00:00:30.475071+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:57.130460
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-30683        Document: 00516747899             Page: 1      Date Filed: 05/11/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                                                                 United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                          Fifth Circuit

                                     ____________                                       FILED
                                                                                     May 11, 2023
                                      No. 22-30683                                   Lyle W. Cayce
                                     ____________                                         Clerk

   M. C. Moore, as father and next friend to minors Joyce Marie
   Moore, Jerry Moore, and Thelma Louise Moore; Henry
   Smith, as father and next friend to minors Bennie Smith, Charles
   Edward Smith, Shirley Ann Smith, and Earline Smith,

                                                                  Plaintiffs—Appellants,

                                            versus

   Tangipahoa Parish School Board, a corporation; C. Glenn
   Westmoreland, President; Melissa Martin Stilley,
   Superintendent,

                                              Defendants—Appellees.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                        for the Eastern District of Louisiana
                              USDC No. 2:65-CV-15556
                     ______________________________

   Before Higginbotham, Southwick, and Willett, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         In this long-standing school desegregation case, the district court
   entered an order that would be effective only if no party objected. The

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-30683        Document: 00516747899              Page: 2       Date Filed: 05/11/2023

                                         No. 22-30683

   plaintiffs objected, blocking the effectiveness of the order from which this
   appeal purports to be taken. The appeal is DISMISSED.
           We offer a little background. In 1965, the plaintiffs sued Tangipahoa
   Parish School Board, claiming equal protection violations under 42 U.S.C. §
   1983 stemming from systemic racial segregation. Moore v. Tangipahoa Par.
   Sch. Bd., 864 F.3d 401, 403 (5th Cir. 2017). In 1967, the district court issued
   its first injunction with the goal of achieving unitary status in the Tangipahoa
   Parish School District. Id. Several other injunctions have followed, id., with
   other appeals to this court occurring as well. 1
           In March 2021, the district court declared provisional unitary status
   for the school district with respect to facilities. Since then, the district court
   has approved several facility improvements in the school district. On
   September 30, 2022, the school board moved to expand and improve
   additional facilities throughout the school district. These expansions focus
   on classroom additions.
           On October 5, 2022, the district court wrote that it granted the school
   board’s motion, but only if no party objected:
           IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the motion for court
           approval to expand and improve physical plants of schools
           throughout the Tangipahoa Parish School District (Rec. Doc.
           1700) is GRANTED, provided it is unopposed and in
           accordance with existing court orders.

           _____________________
           1
           See, e.g., Moore v. Tangipahoa Par. Sch. Bd., 496 F.2d 696 (5th Cir. 1974); Moore v.
   Tangipahoa Par. Sch. Bd., 594 F.2d 489 (5th Cir. 1979); Moore v. Tangipahoa Par. Sch. Bd.,
   843 F.3d 198 (5th Cir. 2016); Moore v. Tangipahoa Par. Sch. Bd., 864 F.3d 401 (5th Cir.
   2017); Moore v. Tangipahoa Par. Sch. Bd., 921 F.3d 545 (5th Cir. 2019).

                                                    2
Case: 22-30683      Document: 00516747899             Page: 3   Date Filed: 05/11/2023

                                     No. 22-30683

          On October 18, 2022, the plaintiffs filed their opposition to the school
   board’s motion and to the court’s order. The plaintiffs nonetheless appealed
   the district court’s order to this court.
          The parties dispute our appellate jurisdiction. The plaintiffs insist this
   court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1), which provides:
          (a) Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this section,
          the courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from:
                 (1) Interlocutory orders of the district courts of the
                 United States . . . granting, continuing, modifying,
                 refusing or dissolving injunctions, or refusing to
                 dissolve or modify injunctions . . .
          The school board responds that the district court’s order, which
   would be effective “provided it is unopposed,” has no effect because the
   plaintiffs formally registered their opposition.
          By its own terms, the order has not been granted and has not altered
   any injunction. Simply put, it has no effect at all.
          APPEAL DISMISSED.

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