Morial v. Judiciary Commission of State of La.
| Decision Date | 02 March 1977 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 76-3795. |
| Citation | 438 F. Supp. 599 |
| Parties | Ernest N. MORIAL et al. v. JUDICIARY COMMISSION OF the STATE OF LOUISIANA. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
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Jefferson & Bryan, Trevor G. Bryan, William J. Jefferson, Sidney M. Bach, Cotton, Jones & Dennis, Charles E. Cotton, Arthur A. Lemann, III, Gerdes & Valteau, Louis A. Gerdes, Jr., New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs.
Donald B. Ensenat, New Orleans, La., for defendants.
This suit was heard on January 31, 1977. Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction and declaratory relief. Defendants' motions to dismiss, and, alternatively, for summary judgment, were also heard. Defendants' motions were denied. A written Order was issued granting plaintiffs' motions for declaratory judgment and for injunction on February 2, 1977. In that Order, the Court indicated that it would issue written Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in due course. The following are those Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
IT IS ORDERED that the Order Staying the Effects of the Preliminary Injunction of February 7, 1977, and issued on February 10, 1977, be, and hereby is, SET ASIDE, and that the Order of February 7, 1977, be, and it is hereby, restored to its full effect.
1. In 1972, Plaintiff, Ernest N. Morial, was elected Judge of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, State of Louisiana, and holds the office under the authority of Article 7, Section 9 of the Constitution of Louisiana of 1921, now superseded by the provisions of Article 5, Section 22 of the 1974 Louisiana Constitution.
2. Plaintiffs, James F. Clark, Jesse A. Dupart, Luke Fontana, Dyan H. French, Marie J. Galatas, Carl Galmon, Robert F. Guesnon, Russell J. Henderson, Cheryl H. Huffine, Larry Jones, Carol G. Lobenstein, Novyse E. Soniat, and Christine B. Valteau, are residents of the United States and registered voters of the City of New Orleans. Some, or all, of these plaintiffs have voted for plaintiff Morial in past political elections in which he was a candidate including his election to the Louisiana House of Representatives, to be Judge on the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, and to his present judgeship.
3. Named as defendants are the Judiciary Commission of the State of Louisiana, its members, the Louisiana Supreme Court, its members, Governor Edwin Edwards, individually and in his capacity as Governor of Louisiana, William Guste, individually and in his capacity as Attorney General of the State of Louisiana, and Paul C. Hardy, individually and in his capacity as Secretary of State of Louisiana.
4. The Judiciary Commission is obligated by law to enforce the provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct for the State of Louisiana, including Canon 7(A)(3). See, In re Haggerty, 257 La. 1, 241 So.2d 469 (1969). Governor Edwin Edwards, Attorney General William Guste, and Secretary of State Paul C. Hardy are all obligated to enforce the provisions of Louisiana R.S. 42:39 adopted by the Louisiana Legislature in 1968. This Statute prohibits any person presently serving as an elected or appointed Judge of any Court, except those persons serving as justices of the peace, from qualifying as a candidate for any nonjudicial local, state or national office without first resigning his judgeship. The Statute further provides that any person elected or appointed Judge of any Court shall not be required to resign his judgeship if that person seeks to qualify as a Judge for the same or any other Court.
5. The predecessor of Article 5 of the 1974 Constitution, Article VII of the 1921 Constitution, as amended, provided that the judiciary of Louisiana shall, except in certain narrow circumstances, be elected. The durations of the various judicial offices as set forth in the Constitution are uniformly shorter than those set forth in the 1921 Constitution.
6. Article V, Section 22(A), of the 1974 Constitution provides that all Judges shall be elected, except as otherwise provided by law. Article V, Section 25, provides for a Judiciary Commission. This Commission is generally empowered to supervise the conduct of the judiciary of the State of Louisiana. It is authorized to recommend to the Supreme Court of Louisiana that a Judge be censured, suspended, or removed from office for violation of certain enumerated acts of misconduct. Section 22 also empowers the Supreme Court to promulgate rules to implement this Section.
7. The Louisiana Supreme Court, pursuant to the supervisory powers granted it in Article V, Section 5(A), adopted a Code of Judicial Conduct on March 5, 1975. Based upon the model Code of Judicial Conduct of the American Bar Association, this Code contains Canon 7(A)(3). Canon 7(A)(3) provides that a Judge presently holding a full time judicial office should resign such office when he becomes a candidate, either in a party primary or a general election, for any nonjudicial office. The only exception to this prohibition is that a Judge may serve as a delegate to a State Constitutional Convention if the law so provides.
8. The direct predecessor of the present Judiciary Commission, the Committee on Judicial Ethics, enforced the provisions of Canons XIX and XX of the Canons of Judicial Ethics. These Canons, the direct predecessors of Canon 7(A)(3), also provided that a Judge must resign his office before he could become a candidate for any nonjudicial office. Canon XX provided that a Judge should resign so that "it cannot be said that he is using the power or prestige of his judicial position to promote his own candidacy, or the success of his party."
9. The provisions of Canons XIX and XX and the provisions of La.R.S. 42:39 have been enforced in the past against Judges who sought to run for nonjudicial office without first resigning their judicial office. In re Haggerty, 257 La. 1, 241 So.2d 469 (1969).
10. Plaintiff Morial has indicated that he intends to become an active candidate for the nonjudicial office of Mayor in the 1977 election. The Statute and Canon prevent him from doing so without resigning his present office. The thirteen other plaintiffs, all registered voters for the Parish of Orleans and all active supporters of plaintiff Morial in the past, have indicated their intent to assist the campaign of plaintiff Morial in the 1977 mayoralty and vote for plaintiff Morial in the 1977 open primary for Mayor. The Statute and Canon prevent plaintiffs from carrying out their intent unless Morial resigns his judgeship.
11. By letter dated October 15, 1976, plaintiff Morial requested that the Louisiana Supreme Court grant him a leave of absence, without pay, from January 1, 1977 through November 3, 1977. The purpose of this leave of absence was to allow plaintiff Morial to participate as a candidate in the 1977 campaign for the office of Mayor of the City of New Orleans. In his letter plaintiff Morial stated that his request for leave was made in the light of the prohibition of Canon 7(A)(3).
12. By letter dated October 21, 1976, the Louisiana Supreme Court, in response to plaintiff Morial's letter, unanimously denied plaintiff Morial's request to be granted a leave of absence. In a subsequent letter by plaintiff Morial to the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics dated November 3, 1976, plaintiff Morial inquired whether, in the light of Canon 7(A)(3) he was prohibited from engaging in activities to solicit support for his contemplated campaign for Mayor. On December 2, 1976, the Committee replied unanimously stating that Canon 7(A)(3) prohibits such a course of action. The Committee maintained that plaintiff must first resign his office before he announced his candidacy for that office. The Committee did state, however, that plaintiff Morial could make a "preliminary survey" in order to find out the degree of financial support and voter support that he could expect to receive after he formally announced his candidacy.
13. During the course of deliberations on the request of Judge Morial, Eugene J. Murret, Judicial Administrator, recommended four alternative courses of action that the Louisiana Supreme Court could adopt in answering the request of Judge Morial. Three of the four alternatives were less restrictive than the alternative eventually adopted. These three recommendations did not require Judge Morial to resign immediately from the bench if he became a formal candidate for Mayor. Additionally, two of the recommendations did not require that he resign until he actually qualified as a candidate in August of 1977. Indeed, these latter recommendations may even have been implemented in such a way so as not to require Judge Morial to resign unless he were elected Mayor. The four recommendations were:
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