New Orleans Officials Petition Supreme Court Over Abolished Clerk Position

New Orleans officials filed a petition Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Louisiana Supreme Court decision that upheld a state law abolishing the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court position. Mayor Helena Moreno, City Council President JP Morrell, and retired criminal court judge Calvin Johnson lead the legal challenge as petitioners, asking the nation’s highest court to determine whether a state legislature can eliminate an elected office after voters have already cast their ballots.

The Legal Challenge Over Act 15

The dispute centers on Act 15, legislation that abolished the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court by merging it with the civil clerk’s office. In a narrow 4-3 ruling earlier this year, the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the statute. City officials maintained that the law remained unconstitutional and argued that the legislation simultaneously established a new combined clerk position that required filling.

Five members of the city council voted in May to schedule a November special election for the combined seat. Moreno, Morrell, and Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams backed the plan, appointing Calvin Johnson to the post on an interim basis. Calvin Duncan, who held the position of criminal court clerk prior to its abolition, announced a campaign for the combined position.

Attorney General Murrill Faces Indictment over Special Election Warnings

Plans for the special election dissolved after Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued letters to eight local officials warning that she could remove them from office if they proceeded. An Orleans Parish grand jury subsequently indicted Murrill in July on a charge of intimidation stemming from those letters. Prosecutors dropped the charges a few weeks later at the request of city officials. Murrill asserted that local leaders improperly influenced the grand jury to secure the indictment, a claim a city spokesperson rejected as flimsy and false.

With local avenues exhausted, municipal leaders turned their focus to federal courts. Moreno emphasized the constitutional stakes of the petition in a public statement. Government should not be able to wait until an election is over, see the result, and then erase the effect of those votes, Moreno stated, adding that protecting constitutional rights requires fighting up to the highest court in the country.

Next Steps in Federal Review

The U.S. Supreme Court will now decide whether to grant the petition. Murrill’s office did not return a request for comment regarding the federal filing.