Former U. S. Congressman Joseph Cao, who has paired with the Pelican Institute in filing a Petition for Declaratory Order from the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) and who has patiently waited on Louisiana AG Liz Murrill to issue an opinion on whether the LSBC has jurisdiction to issue such a Declaratory Order.
This is a video blog, so written commentary on this feature will be absolutely minimal.
On September 19, 2024, the Pelican Institute and Cao Law Firm filed a Petition against the LSBC alleging that it violated five (5) manicurists’ right to a jury trial rather than the LSBC being, “judge, jury, and executioner.”
LSBC attorney Sheri Morris subsequently requested an opinion from AG Liz Murrill’s office entailing whether the LSBC could decide a “constitutional issue,” (i.e. the “constitutional right to a trial by jury”) such as that she asserts is being raised by the manicurists.
The following video, which is only two (2) minutes long and contains excerpts from the LSBC meetings of January 6, 2025 and February 3, 2025, likely best outlines the utter frustration of the manicurists entailing what they were told regarding when an opinion should be forthcoming:
Two (2) minute excerpt from 1/6/25 & 2/3/25 LSBC meetings regarding when AG opinion should be forthcoming.
Notwithstanding the content of the above video, as of the LSBC meeting of yesterday, Monday, September 8, 2025, no such opinion has been released by Murrill’s office. Accordingly, the Pelican Institute recently drafted a letter to the LSBC which indicated that the Board needed to get the show on the road.
In the following video from yesterday’s LSBC meeting, we have edited not a second out of the discussion of the Declaratory Order matter:
9/8/25 discussion of Declaratory Order.
So, with allegations of rampant solicitations of bribes by LSBC inspectors along with a well-documented decade long period of alleged harassment by the LSBC to include a Federal Judge stating the LSBC engaged in Constitutional Rights violations (false imprisonment and illegal searches), Cao and the Pelican Institute can either: #1) continue to wait on the AG opinion which was supposed to be issued months ago, or #2) proceed on with litigation in 19th JDC without any Declaratory Order by the LSBC or an opinion by the AG regarding whether the Board has the authority to issue such an Order.
We’ll see which option Cao and the Pelican Institute opt to choose.