WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court cleared the way for trial Monday on charges that Louisiana's judicial election system discriminates against black voters.
The justices refused to hear an appeal by Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer of a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the Voting Rights Act applies to state judicial elections.
In legal papers filed with the high court, the state's Justice Department argued that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, enacted to rid the country of discriminatory voting practices, applies only to legislative races and not to judicial contests.
The federal law has been used by minorities at the legislative level to change electoral district lines that dilute their voting strength or make it difficult to win elections.
The case arose in September 1986 when black registered voters in Orleans Parish filed a lawsuit alleging that the at-large system for electing two state supreme court justices from the First Judicial District diluted black voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The state is divided into six districts for the purposes of electing state Supreme Court justices, but only the first district elects two justices.
The suit cited evidence that elections in the First District had been marked by racial bloc voting and proposed that the district be divided into two districts, each which would elect one justice.
One of the proposed districts would have a 55 percent black population and the other would have a white majority.
A federal district court dismissed the complaint, ruling that the Voting Rights Act does not apply to judges. The appeals court, however, reversed the ruling and sent the case back for trial.
In its high court appeal, lawyers for the state said the lower court ruling, if allowed to stand, could threaten judicial selection systems in 42 states, which either elect judges or subject them to retention votes.
'If the court does not take this case, chaos will ensue,' the appeal said. 'There are already seven states which are facing litigation that may require the restructuring of their judicial selection election systems and it is merely a matter of time until the remaining 35 states that elect judges will be faced with similar suits.'
Eight states sided with Lousiana in a friend-of-the-court bried and also urged the justices to hear the appeal.
The federal government opposed the appeal, saying it was premature to consider the issue prior to trial.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing the black voters, argued that lower courts are in agreement that the Voting Rights Act covers judicial elections.
'Having allowed all qualified voters to participate directly in the judicial selection process, the state cannot use a process that values the votes of white citizens and black citizens differently,' it said.
