NEW ORLEANS - Attorney General Jeff Landry has dropped his fight with Gov. John Bel Edwards over a lawsuit against federal education officials.

Edwards had moved recently to dismiss former Gov. Bobby Jindal's lawsuit that claimed federal authorities tried to coerce the state into adopting the Common Core math and English education standards. Jindal had already lost at the district court level and Edwards said the former governor's appeal was expensive and unnecessary.

Landry said Edwards was too quick to drop the lawsuit. He asked the appeals court to let him intervene. But, he changed course Thursday afternoon. He joined Edwards' motion to dismiss the suit, saying he had decided "after independently reviewing this matter."

Edwards had said the lawsuit was unnecessary because a new federal law bars the federal government from mandating standards.