Louisiana Republicans eliminate elected office won by Democratic exoneree

Louisiana Republicans eliminated an elected position days before a Democratic exoneree who overwhelmingly won the New Orleans-based post was set to take office on Monday.A temporary restraining order did allow the exoneree, Calvin Duncan, to take office as scheduled on Monday as the clerk of New Orleans’ criminal district courthouse – though it remained unclear how long his tenure may prove to be.The conservative governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, quietly signed legislation abolishing the longstanding New Orleans clerk of criminal court position into law on Thursday, according to the Louisiana secretary of state spokesperson, Trey Williams.Republicans say wiping away the office is a consolidation effort meant to make the local judicial system more efficient and cut costs. But Democrats describe the change as government overreach – arguing that it infringes on a predominantly Black city’s decision at the polls.Duncan, who spent nearly 30 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, easily won election to the criminal court clerk position in November, beating the incumbent and earning more than two-thirds of the vote.At Duncan’s request, the New Orleans-based federal judge John deGravelles on Sunday ruled the law which eliminated his office was unconstitutional and issued a temporary restraining order which stopped it from taking effect.A statement from Duncan said he was “elated because the people’s right to vote is being honored”.But Landry’s administration and state attorney general Liz Murrill can appeal against the ruling to the US Fifth Circuit Court, which many regard as the country’s most conservative appellate court.Judge DeGravelles’s order is for two weeks while both sides continue arguing the matter. He set a status conference on Monday afternoon to discuss an injunction that would last longer than the temporary restraining order.Duncan, 63, whose murder conviction was vacated in 2021 after evidence emerged that police officers had lied in court, has vowed to help fix the system that once failed him.He and his supporters say he is being targeted by the most powerful Republicans in the state, including those who have denied his innocence, even though Duncan’s name is listed on the National Registry of Exonerations.“We’re doing something because powerful people don’t like him,” the Louisiana state representative Mandie Landry, a New Orleans Democrat, told lawmakers during a legislative committee hearing in April. Landry, who is not related to the governor, described the Republican efforts as “atrocious” and worries what it could mean for other elected positions in the state.Republicans say the legislation consolidates the civil and criminal court clerks’ offices in New Orleans, putting it in line with all other parishes in the state, which have single clerk’s office. The civil clerk position would remain and absorb the criminal clerk’s role.Eliminating the clerk position saves the state about $27,000 and the city $233,000 according to the office of the legislative auditor, which added that the long-term costs of consolidation were “unknown”. The legislation also shifts about $1.17m in state expenditures to the parish. The civil and criminal court of clerk have separate physical offices and different case management systems.The governor told the Associated Press that eliminating Duncan’s elected office was about improving government efficiency and “cleaning up a system in [New Orleans] that has been plagued by dysfunction and corruption for years”.The consolidation is part of a broader Republican effort during the ongoing legislative session to overhaul the judiciary in New Orleans – including bills that propose abolishing several other elected judicial positions in the parish. However, those jobs would be eliminated further down the line, allowing officials to serve out their terms.The bill’s Republican author, Jay Morris, a state senator who represents a district several hours from New Orleans, said the goal had been to implement the clerk consolidation before Duncan took office, preventing him from starting a four-year term. Morris has acknowledged that he expects lawsuits to be filed because of this law but believes the change to be constitutional.“It’s unfortunate for Mr Duncan, I concede that,” Morris told lawmakers in April. “He seems very nice, but we don’t make policy around here for just one person.”Although conversations have revolved around Duncan, many also raise concerns about how the change could disenfranchise voters. That is a heightened worry in a deeply Republican state whose efforts to gut the Voting Rights Act resulted in Friday’s US supreme court decision that dismantled a provision which ensured minority voters received fair treatment in drawing congressional districts.New Orleans is a Democratic hub with a predominantly Black electorate.“Mr Duncan was elected by 68% of the vote in a city that’s majority African American,” Edmond Jordan, a Democratic state representative, told Morris. “This is the will of the people, and what your bill attempts to do is usurp the will of the people.”Well before the legislation ever reached the governor’s desk, Duncan said he could see the writing on the wall. Ahead of the outcome, Duncan’s advocates held a ceremonial swearing-in for him. Hundreds of people gathered on the steps of the New Orleans criminal courthouse to support the exoneree.Duncan told lawmakers that, along the 2025 campaign trail, he spoke with many people who told him they typically abstain from voting in elections.“Now, this bill tells people exactly what they had believed – that their vote doesn’t count,” Duncan said.Guardian staff contributed reporting