Perschall v. State

• Citation: 697 So.2d 240
• Parties: 96-0322 La
• Decision Date: 01 July 1997
• Court: Supreme Court of Louisiana

Page 240

697 So.2d 240

96-0322 La. 7/1/97

Clement F. PERSCHALL, Jr. v. The STATE of Louisiana.

No. 96-CC-0322.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

July 1, 1997.

Tyron David Picard, Lafayette, Domengeaux & Wright, Mark Edward Stipe, Picard & Stipe, Lafayette, Peter J. Butler, Jr., Peter J. Butler, Richard Gary Passler, New Orleans, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, Baton Rouge, Robert McDuff, New Orleans, for applicant.

Clement F. Perschall, Jr., Metairie, Walter I. Willard, Lemle & Kelleher, Ronald Earle Wilson, William Patrick Quigley, New Orleans, Jacqueline Carr, Slidell, Theodore M. Shaw, Charles Stephen Ralston, Elaine R. Jones, Norman, J. Chachkin, New York City, Victor A. Bolden, Brooklyn, NY, Jacqueline A. Berrier, for respondent.

[96-0322 La. 1] KIMBALL, Justice. ^*

This declaratory judgment action challenges the validity of La. Acts 1992, No. 512 [hereinafter Act 512] under the Louisiana Constitution. Act 512 was adopted to resolve the issue in the matter of Chisom v. Edwards, a federal voting rights case that challenged the election of two of this court's seven justices from one district that includes Orleans Parish. The Chisom case was settled by the minority plaintiffs and the State by entry of a Consent Judgment in federal court that memorialized Act 512 and made it effective, which decree is currently under the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

In achieving the settlement remedy, Act 512 deferred redistricting the supreme court election districts into single-member districts until a later time, but implemented an immediate remedy by creating an additional court of appeal district composed of Orleans Parish to be filled by election in 1992, and ordered immediate assignment of the duly elected judge to the supreme court as its eighth member pursuant to this court's constitutional assignment power under article V, § 5(A). The plaintiff herein alleges, inter alia, this enactment violates the Louisiana Constitution in several respects, but especially article V, § 3, which states that the supreme court shall be composed of a chief justice and six associate justices.

[96-0322 La. 2] After several supervisory writ applications to this court, and considering the public interest in an orderly process of government, we chose to exercise our supervisory jurisdiction over the entire matter which was remanded to the state trial court from the federal court in 1996, to first resolve threshold justiciability questions and, if necessary, to resolve the state law question raised by plaintiff's challenge. The federal court abstained from considering the state law question in consideration of jurisdictional and comity issues inherent in our federal system of government, which practice is referred to as Pullman abstention. ¹

The justiciability issue, arising after federal court abstention, presents the question whether plaintiff's state constitutional challenge is a justiciable controversy worthy of this court's resolution or whether this court's resolution would be nothing more than an advisory opinion. For the reasons discussed more fully below, we find the matter to be justiciable and worthy of opinion by the state's highest court, even though a state court is without authority to answer the ultimate federal issues that are pending in federal court.

Having concluded that a justiciable controversy exists, we reviewed the record evidence and the law applicable to plaintiff's constitutional challenge. Based on this review, we hold that Act 512 suffers from specific constitutional infirmities that require its invalidation. This holding is narrowly premised on the constitutional conflict that Act 512 creates between the state constitutional provision that imposes a numerative limit of justices on this court and the provision authorizing this court to assign lower court judges to any court. In so holding, we recognize the status quo shall remain intact, and this court, as it is currently composed and operating, shall continue to function as a de jure court under the Chisom Consent Judgment. Because it is not before us, we express no opinion on the effort to diversify this court's composition, nor does this opinion in any way diminish the hard work and service on this court of Justices Revius O. Ortique, Jr. and Bernette Joshua Johnson, the judges who have been elected to serve in the "Chisom seat". Rather, we only address the unsettled state law issue surrounding the relationship between the numerative limit of article V, § 3 and the assignment power provision of article V, § 5(A).

[96-0322 La. 3] BACKGROUND

The Chisom Litigation

The substance of the legislative act, enumerated Act 512 of 1992, was the product of settlement negotiations between all parties involved in lengthy federal litigation that challenged the composition of the Supreme Court of Louisiana as violative of the plaintiffs' rights protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the federal constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended. ² In 1987, Ronald Chisom, four other black plaintiffs, and the Louisiana Voter Registration Education Crusade, filed a complaint on behalf of a class of all black persons registered to vote in Orleans Parish, alleging the method of electing justices from their district--the first supreme court district, composed of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes--impermissibly diluted minority voting strength. The Chisom plaintiffs brought suit against the governor and other state officials seeking a remedy that would have divided the first supreme court district into two districts, one for Orleans Parish and the second for the other three parishes. The United States intervened in support of the Chisom plaintiffs' claims.

In a pre-trial ruling, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Chisom v. Edwards, 659 F.Supp. 183 (E.D.La.1987). The court held the constitutional claims brought pursuant to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were insufficient because the complaint did not adequately allege a specific intent to discriminate. Id. at 189. With respect to the statutory claim, the court held that Section 2 is not violated unless there is an abridgment of the minority voters' opportunity "to elect representatives of their choice." The court concluded that because judges were not "representatives," judicial elections were not covered by Section 2. Id. at 187.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed. Chisom v. Edwards, 839 F.2d 1056 (5th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Roemer v. Chisom, 488 U.S. 955, 109 S.Ct. 390, [96-0322 La. 4] 102 L.Ed.2d 379 (1988). The court recognized that Congress explicitly intended to expand Section 2 coverage by the 1982 Voting Rights Act amendment. Id. at 1061. The panel rejected the argument that the term "representatives" in the 1982 amendment was intended to constrain Voting Rights Act coverage, id. at 1063; rather, the court construed the amendment as enlarging minority protection against racial discrimination beyond that which the federal constitution provides, concluding the amended Section 2 "necessarily embraces judicial elections within its scope." Id. at 1061. In addition to reinstating the plaintiffs' Section 2 claim, the panel revived the constitutional claims dismissed by the district court, finding plaintiffs' contentions that the purpose and effect of this election practice was "to dilute, minimize, and cancel the voting strength" of black voters in Orleans Parish were sufficient to warrant trial. The case was remanded to the district court after the Supreme Court of the United States denied review. ³ 488 U.S. 955, 109 S.Ct. 390, 102 L.Ed.2d 379 (1988).

On remand, the district court conducted a bench trial, ultimately concluding the evidence did not establish a Section 2 violation under the standards set forth in Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). ⁴ The district court also dismissed the constitutional claims. The Chisom plaintiffs and the United States appealed to the Fifth Circuit. ⁵ While the case was pending therein, the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc in another Section 2 case, held that judicial elections were not covered under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as amended. See League of United Latin American Citizens Council No. 4434 v. Clements, 914 F.2d 620 (5th Cir.1990) (en banc) (LULAC ). ⁶ [96-0322 La. 5] Following the en banc decision in LULAC, the court of appeals remanded the Chisom litigation to the district court with directions to dismiss the complaint. Chisom v. Roemer, 917 F.2d 187 (5th Cir.1990). It expressed no opinion on the strength of the plaintiffs' case.

The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. 498 U.S. 1060, 111 S.Ct. 775, 112 L.Ed.2d 838 (1991). In granting review, the Court limited its inquiry solely to the question of the scope of coverage under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as amended. 501 U.S. 380, 390, 111 S.Ct. 2354, 2361, 115 L.Ed.2d 348, 360 (1991). The Court explicitly did not address "any question concerning the elements that must be proved to establish a violation of the [Voting Rights Act] or the remedy that might be appropriate to redress a violation if proved." Id. On the merits of Section 2's scope, the Court held that state judicial elections are included within the ambit of Section 2 as amended. Thereupon, the Court reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. Thus, the case was remitted to the Fifth Circuit where it remained until that court remanded the case to the district court in August 1992 to effectuate settlement. The Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal in October 1992, noting a Consent Judgment was entered into by all parties and signed by the district court.

Act 512 of 1992: Origins and Purpose

In the 1992 Regular...