On Friday, August 21, lawyers for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), and cooperating Louisiana attorney, Ronald L. Wilson, filed papers in Terrebonne Parish Branch NAACP, et al. v. Jindal, et al., a challenge under the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution to Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana’s discriminatory voting method for the 32nd Judicial District Court (32nd JDC).
On behalf of the Terrebonne Parish Branch NAACP and four black voters, LDF asked a Louisiana federal court to rule that at-large voting for the 32nd JDC discriminates against black voters in Terrebonne. “Our case demonstrates that the at-large electoral method for the 32nd JDC silences the voices of black voters. As recently as 2008, this structure resulted in a white judge’s reelection even after he was suspended for wearing blackface in an apparent parody of black criminal defendants,” says Leah Aden, an LDF attorney. “Louisiana adopted at-large voting for the 32nd JDC, after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to prevent black voters from electing their candidates of choice. Despite decades of advocacy against at-large voting in the district, Louisiana has continued to use this voting method and rejected numerous legislative proposals to change to district-based voting for the 32nd JDC,” continued Aden.