Louisiana GOP Aims To Block Calvin Duncan From Taking Office

Last fall, Calvin Duncan gave us one of the few feel-good stories in American politics during the November elections. Duncan spent three decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit before being exonerated. After gaining his freedom, Duncan campaigned and eventually won the position of Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court. Now, only a month before he’s set to be sworn into office, the Louisiana state legislature is rushing to eliminate his job. 

According to AP, the predominantly white Louisiana Senate Republicans voted on Wednesday to consolidate Duncan’s role as part of a larger effort to streamline the judiciary in New Orleans, a predominantly Black city that tends to vote Democrat. Considering that the Louisiana GOP is actively trying to legalize racial gerrymandering, it should come as no surprise that they don’t have a problem effectively telling New Orleans voters their choice doesn’t matter. 

Calvin Duncan won 68% of the vote last November to become the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court. His struggle to obtain his legal records while incarcerated is partly what inspired him to run for the clerk of criminal court position. He campaigned on reforming the judicial system and streamlining the process of obtaining legal records. 

“The citizens of New Orleans overwhelmingly said: ‘I want to give this person a chance, he can make a difference,’” Duncan, a Democrat, told lawmakers during a March committee hearing. “What this bill does, it says: ‘Thank you, but you wasted your time.’ It disenfranchises everybody.”

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has defended the move as improving “government efficiency” and “cleaning up a system in Orleans Parish that has been plagued by dysfunction and corruption for years.” Landry previously opposed Duncan’s petition to be compensated for his wrongful conviction during his time as state attorney general. Duncan ultimately withdrew his petition after Liz Murrill, Landry’s successor, threatened to revoke his license to practice law. 

Duncan believes the bill is retaliation by Landry and Murrill, who still don’t want to acknowledge he was exonerated. “The Attorney General made it clear during the election that if I continued to accurately speak about my innocence and exoneration that I would face consequences from her office,” Duncan told The Associated Press. “We are seeing those consequences today as she and the Governor try to undo the will of 68% of voters in New Orleans.”

Murrill told AP that she had “no involvement” in the move to eliminate the office.

From AP:

Proponents of consolidating the criminal clerk of court with the civil clerk of court say the offices are combined in other parishes. Terminating the criminal clerk of court position would save the state an estimated $27,300, according to the office of the legislative auditor, which added that the costs of combining clerks’ offices were “unknown.”

The bill’s Republican author, Sen. Jay Morris, who represents a district in north Louisiana, acknowledged that once Duncan’s elected position is eliminated, the civil clerk of court might struggle to handle the influx of cases. The solution, he says, is to “hire someone.”

Other New Orleans elected judicial officials whose jobs may be eliminated in the future would be allowed to serve out their terms, but not Duncan.

Morris told lawmakers that the goal is to pass the law in time to prevent Duncan from taking office before the start of his four-year term.

So let’s get this straight. Duncan is the only one who wouldn’t be able to serve out his term. The bill will likely cause more problems than it solves, and they’re rushing to get through before he’s sworn in. But the Louisiana GOP swears this isn’t personal. 

Sure, Jan. 

“I have never seen something so barbaric,” state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat representing New Orleans, said on the Senate floor. “I understand politics, and I know you all are going to vote how you are going to vote. But just know, when we are all done here, history has a record.”

You’ve got a man who spent time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, using what he’s learned to help out people who may find themselves in a similar position, and the Louisiana state legislature doesn’t want that to happen. 

These people don’t care about law and order. They just want to uphold white supremacy by any means necessary. 

SEE ALSO:

Exonerated Man Calvin Duncan Wins New Orleans Criminal Clerk Election

Black Man Who Spent Decades On Death Row Has Case Dismissed