A federal appeals court has rejected Attorney General Jeff Landry`s bid to end a consent decree that requires Louisiana to retain a majority-Black district in the New Orleans area for state Supreme Court elections.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision on Oct. 25, affirming a district court ruling that concluded the state failed to provide adequate evidence to dissolve the consent decree, which was put in place in 1992. As a result of the realignment of state Supreme Court electoral districts, Louisiana elected its first Black Supreme Court justice, Revius Oliver Ortique Jr., in 1993, according to the appeals court decision.
“... The state has not presented evidence demonstrating that the vestiges of past discrimination have been eliminated to the extent possible or that continued enforcement of the consent judgment is detrimental to the public interest,” the appeals court opinion says. “The record is thus inadequate to support dissolution (under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure).”
Landry’s lawsuit, which was filed in December 2021, argues that the Supreme Court districts have seen population changes in recent decades to the point that they are no longer equitable. The consent decree has led to increased “malapportionment” in the seven districts that elect high court justices, the state argued, and the decree is an obstruction to legislative efforts to redraw those boundaries.
“The state contended that the consent judgment’s final remedy was satisfied in 2020 when Justice (Bernette) Johnson retired as chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court,” the appeals court decision states.
Supporters of maintaining the consent decree, including the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), said the decision recognizes the continuing need to protect the voting power of Black Louisianans from the “extreme and historic dilution” of such minority voting rights.
“African-American voters in New Orleans have been fighting for fair representation on the Louisiana Supreme Court for over 30 years,” Bill Quigley, a civil rights attorney, said in a statement provided to the Louisiana Record. “This latest chapter shows how important the protection of voting rights is to all our community.”
Leah Aden, the LDF’s senior counsel, also said ending the consent decree would be premature.
“With so much at stake, and with states like Louisiana continuing to pass hostile legislation surrounding reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, education and more, it is crucial that Louisiana adhere to court orders that require them to ensure that Black voters have representation on the state’s highest court,” Aden said in a prepared statement.
Circuit Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt, however, dissented from the Fifth District’s majority opinion, arguing that the opinion allows for “nearly unchecked judicial authority” over what is traditionally a legislative activity.
“Although the state of Louisiana entered into the consent judgment in good faith, and by all accounts has performed each and every task set forth therein, this court now not only moves the proverbial goal posts, it places them beyond sight,” Engelhardt said in his dissent.
The majority opinion’s effort to perpetuate the consent decree indefinitely reflects an affront to self-governance through a democratically elected Legislature, he said.