Picture this:
Two football teams are playing an important game. Suddenly, the coach of Team A takes it upon himself to pull the quarterback, the star running back and the top receiver for Team B.
Wait. What? How can the coach of Team A pull players for Team B off the field?
Or, say LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson is headed into an important series with another team for a super-regional championship when suddenly, the other team’s coach says LSU’s best pitcher and its best hitter cannot play.
Sounds crazy. But that’s exactly what has happened between two Louisiana officials, Secretary of State Nancy Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill.
Murrill, you see, has, in effect, PULLED THE STARTERS for Landry’s team who were all set to square away on a high-stakes legal battle by firing all of Landry’s outside legal counsel which pretty much upends the betting odds on this game’s outcome.
The game is an ongoing effort by the state (with Murrill acting on behalf of the state) to throw out a key section of the Voting Rights Act, a provision once supported but now opposed by Murrill and her puppet master, Jeff Landry. Murrill’s legal counsel, State Solicitor General Benjamin Aguinaga, is set to argue LOUISIANA v CALLAIS before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15.
Should Murrill prevail, the Louisiana Legislature would redraw Louisiana’s congressional districts – again.
If that happens, yet another redistricting could result in the loss of one – or both – black seats currently held by Troy Carter (2nd District) and Cleo Fields (6th District) – gerrymandering the way Trump intended, in other words.
Landry, meanwhile, has submitted her own brief in which she says she has always opposed the Legislature’s 2024 decision – that’s the one that had the full support of Landry/Murrill – to create a second black-majority congressional seat that Fields subsequently won.
Murrill now says that Landry challenged her (Murrill’s) authority prior to the scheduled U.S. Supreme Court hearing to invalidate Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act signed by Lyndon Johnson.
Murrill obviously didn’t like her chances, being opposed by Landry and all. And it’s fair certain the Supreme Court justices might wonder why the state’s attorney general was being opposed from within her own administration – and party.
So, the obvious thing to do was to fire Landry’s attorneys. What better way to enhance your own legal position?
As a point of clarity, the hiring of outside legal counsel by state agencies is normally done with the concurrence of the attorney general’s office. Up to now, that’s been pretty much routine, kind of like kicking an extra point or throwing an 0-2 pitch in the dirt to see of the batter will chase it. In fact, in my 20 years at the Office of Risk Management, where we hired attorneys or appointed AG attorneys literally on a daily basis, I cannot recall a single instance in which the AG failed or refused to concur on an attorney appointment. Nor can I remember in those 20 years a single time when an attorney was fired – though I could name quite a few attorneys whom I considered inept who should’ve been canned.
But the rules have changed since the hordes of Repugnantcans seized the reins of power and began putting Project 2025 into play on a widescale basis, from Washington to the state houses. And it’s especially true when they see that the position they’ve staked out might be challenged – whether by a news agency, a public official, a university or a late-night talk show comedian.
Louisiana Voice 
This scheme was no doubt orchestrated out of the White House where the fascist Trump administration is trying to rig the election system to guarantee MAGA majorities, which guarantees his rule until he gains enough control of the military to just blow off Congress and the courts entirely. Thomas has practically guaranteed the court will overturn voting rights law and both he and Alito have said precedence means nothing to them. If this works Trump won’t have to suspend the midterms and can risk an election. If not, it’s back to Plan A which is to just suspend elections on some phony pretext, declare martial law with troops already in key places, and ride out the storm.