GET DAILY REPORT FREE
Conservative lawmakers in Louisiana are looking to limit the authority of district attorneys as GOP leaders across the nation continue to butt heads with leaders of liberal cities over politics, Louisiana Illuminator reports.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is advocating for a constitutional convention where, according to his advisory committee, district attorneys’ broad authority over criminal prosecutions and grand juries in their judicial districts would be up for debate.
At the same time, state lawmakers are weighing a separate constitutional amendment to allow the Louisiana Legislature and a not-yet-created state commission to overrule district attorneys when they refuse to prosecute and give control over cases to the state attorney general.
The proposed restrictions follow other Southern states where Republican state officials have sought to undercut or remove so-called “progressive” district attorneys in overwhelmingly Democratic areas.
