Nearly two years after a federal trial court found that Louisiana’s use of at-large voting for electing five judges to a state court with jurisdiction over Terrebonne Parish violates the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) applauds the court for ordering a remedy that serves as long-awaited relief for Black voters.
“This voting rights remedy will bring a 50-year old discriminatory voting practice in Louisiana to an end,” said LDF Deputy Director of Litigation Leah Aden. “Black voters in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana have been denied an equal opportunity to elect their preferred judicial candidates for far too long – first through Louisiana’s political process, which continues to fail them, and then through the Governor and Attorney General’s defense of this discriminatory system in court since plaintiffs filed this case in 2014. Black voters in Terrebonne will continue to fight to ensure that the court order is implemented for the next state court election for all five judicial seats in 2020 and push Louisiana state officials to ensure fair electoral opportunity in Louisiana.”
Learn more about Terrebonne Parish Branch NAACP, et al. v. Edwards, et al. here.