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.
This case is being litigated on behalf of plaintiffs by LDF, Ronald L. Wilson, and Cozen O’Connor.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and 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. 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 NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
