Louisiana Supreme Court rules against exoneree whose office was abolished
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The sharply divided Louisiana Supreme Court ruled Monday to abolish an elected office Won by an exoneree from New Orleans He served nearly 30 years in prison for murder before his conviction was annulled.
4-3 decision leaves Calvin Duncan He has little in the way of taking on the role of Orleans Parish criminal court clerk; He won the post last year in a landmark election before Republican lawmakers. raced to eliminate in the office this spring.
In a fierce dissent, the court’s Democratic justices said the decision opened the door to allowing Louisiana lawmakers to subvert the will of the voters. The court’s conservative majority disagreed, writing that “this change is entirely within the legislature’s authority.”
The court also rejected an attempt by the New Orleans City Council to hold a special election that would have given Duncan the option to run again.
“At a time when our voting rights are under unprecedented attack, this decision makes clear that if we want to live in a democracy, we must fight for it with every tool our system of government provides,” Duncan said in a statement.
The bill eliminating the New Orleans clerk’s office, signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, was supported by GOP lawmakers as a necessary step toward government efficiency. Supporters denied this had anything to do with Duncan or his past.
Democrats cast the change as overreaching by a largely white conservative Legislature and accused it of trying to thwart the will of a majority-black city. Those tensions resurfaced last month when Landry signed the contract. a new congress map This eliminated one of the state’s two majority Black House districts.
Duncan was convicted of a murder in 1981 and was released from prison in 2011. In 2021, an Orleans Parish district judge vacated Duncan’s sentence, finding that he was wrongfully convicted and the charges against him were dropped. Duncan is listed on the National Registry of Exonerator.
