NAACP Sues For Minority Judgeship In Terrebonne
HOUMA, La. (AP) — While all five seats on the Terrebonne District Court bench are up for election this year, an effort for a minority judge has been revived.
Terrebonne NAACP President Jerome Boykin tells The Courier the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a federal suit Monday against the state to turn term-limited Judge Timothy Ellender's position into a minority judgeship.
All five four-year judgeships are held by white men, and every seated judge except Ellender plans to run for re-election.
Last year, state Rep. Patricia Smith, chairwoman of Louisiana's Black Caucus, asked the state Supreme Court Judicial Council to ask the Legislature to create the judgeship.
The council, a research board that meets in the spring and fall, delayed making such a request while it determines whether it has such authority.