LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
February 25, 2016
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
March 3, 2016Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove has asked that the parish be included in a lawsuit pending in federal court against state officials that challenges the method used to elect parish judges.
Papers filed in U.S. District Court at Baton Rouge Monday state that Terrebonne Parish has a clear interest in the proceedings, and so wishes to be named as a party in interest. The lawsuit, set for a 2017 trial date, was filed by the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense Fund on behalf of the Terrebonne Parish Branch of the NAACP. It alleges that Terrebonne’s election of its five district court judges at-large, meaning everyone in the parish votes for each one, violates Section 2 of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. The allegation of the plaintiffs is that the at-large method dilutes minority votes, and thus denies minority voters the ability to truly elect a judge of their choice.
Dove has a history of opposition to change in how the parish elects its judge. As a state representative he spoke out against a bill that would have created a minority sub-district.
It was proposed by former State Rep. Damon Baldone, but authored and submitted by Baton Rouge legislator Dalton Honoree.
Dove has maintained that the election of District Judge Juan Pickett, who is black, proves that Terrebonne Parish can and has elected a black judge. Jerome Boykin, president of the Terrebonne NAACP counters that the question was never whether a black judge could be elected, but if the voices of black voters could be heard under the current system, no matter who their choice might be, or of what race.
The suit currently names former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as a defendant, as well as former Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
Calls over the past two weeks to spokespeople for Gov. John Bel Edwards and the new attorney general, Jeff Landry have received no responses. The Times was attempting to determine whether the state would continue to defend against the suit.
The Times also contacted the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government asking for memos or documents that might relate to courthouse rumors of the parish entering the fight. A response to those requests stated that the parish was not required to produce them – if they existed – because they concern ongoing litigation.
The legal papers filed Monday make clear that the parish is taking a side in the matter, against the plaintiffs.
“Proposed Intervenor understands that Plaintiffs may seek as one alternate form of relief the carving up of the 32nd Judicial District into five separate geographic subdistricts,” the request to intervene in the suit states. “(The parish) opposes such “Balkanization” of its court system …
The creation of one or more special subdistricts as proposed by Plaintiffs, under the factual circumstances present here, would promote racial polarization rather than alleviate any purported problem. •
