Louisiana simply doesn’t like Black people. That’s the only conclusion I can come to after how they’ve been moving the last several months. It’s bad enough that a group of Louisiana voters successfully convinced the Supreme Court to gut the Voting Rights Act and pave the way for a new era of racial gerrymandering. On the state level, Louisiana Republicans have continually shown their disdain for Black voters by rushing to eliminate the office won by Calvin Duncan in a landslide election last November. It looks like state Republicans are getting what they want after the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Louisiana state legislature.
AP reports that the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to allow Louisiana to uphold the law eliminating the office of Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court. The court found that the “change was entirely within the authority of the legislature.”
“No provision of the Louisiana or United States Constitution prohibits Act 15 from being immediately effective,” the majority opinion added. “By the clear terms of the Act, there is no vacancy in any office.”
While Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, state Attorney General Liz Murrill, and the state legislature have all said the move to eliminate Calvin Duncan’s office after he was elected wasn’t personal, come on now, we know they’re lying.
After spending 20 years in prison for a fatal shooting he didn’t commit, Duncan was initially released on a plea agreement before being exonerated in 2021. Both Landry and Murrill campaigned against his exoneration during their respective tenures as Louisiana attorney general, despite evidence revealing the police lied during Duncan’s trial. There was no talk of eliminating the office when it looked like former clerk Darren Lombard was going to keep his office, but after Duncan won his election, Landry suddenly felt it was time to “prioritize government efficiency.”
Between eliminating Duncan’s office, disenfranchising 40,000 voters, and signing into law a congressional map eliminating one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black districts, Landry isn’t beating the “I don’t mess with Black people” allegations.
Chief Justice John L. Weimer pushed back against the ruling in a strongly worded dissent.
“The action by the Legislature to abolish a public office before the person elected to that office can assume the duties of the office makes a mockery of the electoral process by completely obliterating the constitutional effectiveness of the people’s vote,” he wrote.
Weimer pointed out the hypocrisy of the Louisiana state legislature for letting the Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff serve out his term before combining his office with the Criminal Sheriff’s Office to create the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. “Thus, the procedure did not run afoul of any constitutional provisions regarding the right to vote,” Weimer wrote.
Associate Justice John Guidry cosigned the dissent, saying that the ruling “amounts to nothing less than condoning a brazen and unconstitutional political coup that subverted the will of the majority of the electorate of Orleans Parish.”
“In our democracy, government exists for the benefit … of the people and not the other way around,” Guidry continued. “What was done in this instance is not only unconstitutional but undemocratic and downright un-American.”
Duncan released a statement addressing the Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling. “I am disappointed that our Supreme Court has blessed this ‘coup,’ as Justice Guidry describes it,” Duncan wrote. “At a time when our voting rights are under unprecedented attack, this decision clarifies that if we want to live in a democracy, we have to fight for it with every tool our system of government provides.”
I’m truly ashamed of how dirty Louisiana did Calvin Duncan. This should have been a feel-good story, but instead, Louisiana Republicans decided to gleefully indulge their racist urges and reveal how little they care about the will of the people.
SEE ALSO:
Louisiana GOP Passes Bill Eliminating Calvin Duncan’s Office
Exonerated Man Calvin Duncan Wins New Orleans Criminal Clerk Election
Louisiana GOP Wants To Pass Bill Preventing Calvin Duncan From Taking Office
