Voting Rights Victory in Louisiana

JEFFERSON PARISH, La., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and Louisiana attorney Ron Wilson secured a major voting rights victory when the United States Department of Justice precleared Act 261 of Louisiana's 2007 legislative session. The legislation was passed in response to a lawsuit filed in 2005 by LDF and Ron Wilson.

"Act 261 provides Jefferson Parish's African-American community with the opportunity to elect a candidate of its choice for the first time since the creation of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals," said LDF attorney Ryan P. Haygood. "This historic development is consistent with the spirit and purpose of the Voting Rights Act, which seeks to expand and protect electoral opportunities for racial minorities where they did not exist before."

The lawsuit, Williams v. McKeithen, challenged Jefferson Parish's at-large method of electing judges to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' First District because it diluted the voting strength of the African-American community in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Act 261 establishes two sub-sections, Election Sections One and Two, in the Fifth Circuit's Court of Appeals' First District. The Act requires that one of the six judges elected from the First District be elected from Election Section Two, in which African-Americans comprise a majority of voters.

Until the legislature enacted Act 261, the use of at-large elections for judgeships on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, together with racial bloc voting patterns, had prevented African-Americans from electing candidates of their choice because they never comprised a majority in a voting sub-section. As a result, no African-American has ever been elected to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

"There has long been a perception in Jefferson Parish that the courthouse is closed to African-Americans," said LDF cooperating attorney Ronald Wilson. "Act 261 will afford African-Americans in Jefferson Parish, with the next vacancy on the Fifth Circuit, the opportunity to dispel that perception and elect a candidate of their choice. We're hopeful that this change will help instill confidence in the court."

Media Contact: Mel Gagarin, (212) 965-2783