“Because at-large voting erects a barrier to black voters’ electoral opportunities, plaintiffs to the lawsuit seek a remedial district in which black voters are the majority of the voters in one of the five districts, which will elect one of the five judges for the 32nd JDC.
Without this district-based remedy, at-large elections for the parish court will continue to deny black voters of their choices for judges to serve them on this important state court. To be sure, black community members in Terrebonne have appeared for proceedings in the 32nd JDC before only white, male judges for nearly the entirety of the court’s history. For more than 15 years, black people in Terrebonne have fought to integrate the 32nd JDC for all future elections in the parish.”
Read the full op-ed here.
