Baton Rouge’s Judicial Election Plan challenged in new suit

The system for electing City Court judges in Baton Rouge dilutes black voting strength and violates the U.S. Constitution and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That’s according to a lawsuit filed last week in federal district court by three local attorneys, who say the system “is tantamount to an apartheid judicial election system in favor of White judicial candidates running for City Court.” One of those attorneys, Joel Porter, is a black attorney running for City Court judge. The suit names Gov. Bobby Jindal, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and Secretary of State Tom Schedler, and takes aim at the city’s 1993 Judicial Election Plan, which was crafted by the state Legislature and creates two majority-black districts and three white ones. At the time, the 60-40 split reflected the population of the city, which was then 60% white, 40% black. Since then, the population has shifted, and black voters now compose 54% of the population, compared to white voters’ 38%; but the Judicial Election Plan has never been updated. According to the suit, “Black citizens and voters and most or all of City Court’s Black judges on several occasions between 2004 and [now] requested White judges of City Court to join and to assist them in seeking changes, particularly not to oppose the redistricting of the 1993 Judicial Election Plan,” but were unsuccessful. The suit is filed on behalf of a plaintiff identified as Kenneth Hall. His attorney, Ronald Johnson, says the suit speaks for itself. Porter and the other attorney, Steve Irving, also declined to comment. Spokespersons for Jindal, Caldwell and Schedler declined to comment or did not return requests for comment. —Stephanie Riegel