Today, LDF sent a letter to the DeSoto Parish, Louisiana Police Jury to correct misleading information contained in a November 18, 2022 letter to the Desoto Parish Police Jury from attorneys at the John D. and Eric G. Johnson Law Firm, LLC and Holzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak, PLLC. The November 18 Letter accuses the Police Jury of intentionally discriminating against DeSoto Parish’s white population and threatens litigation based on inaccurate and misleading assertions concerning the Police Jury redistricting plan adopted in April 2022 (Plan C). The authors of the November 18 letter used these misleading assertions to support the flawed argument that Plan C constitutes a racial gerrymander and is the product of racial discrimination.
While LDF does not object to the efforts to reduce population deviations, we believe that this can be accomplished with minimal additional changes to district lines. The November 18 letter advocates for the arbitrary elimination of existing majority-Black Police Jury districts. As LDF’s letter explains, the elimination of these districts would constitute intentional racial discrimination and may also amount to vote dilution in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In the letter, LDF cautions against adopting the flawed reading of federal statutory and constitutional requirements contained in the November 18 letter.
Read LDF’s letter here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
