This story was originally published by The Lens
Louisiana’s full Senate voted 25-11 Tuesday to pass Senate Bill 256, a proposal that would merge the clerk’s offices for Orleans Parish civil and criminal district courts into a single office.
The vote eliminates the position of Calvin Duncan, the incoming clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.
Supporters say the Orleans consolidation, authored by Sen. Jay Morris of Monroe, streamlines operations and improves efficiency, while critics warn it is likely to create confusion, reduce funding, and override the will of the voters who recently elected Duncan.
Senate Bill 256 legislation is part of a larger Orleans-centered push by Morris, who authored a trio of bills focused on drastically overhauling New Orleans courts.
Altogether, bills that Morris authored could cut 11 judgeships across Orleans Parish judiciary and eliminate the clerkship that Duncan was slated to step into in May, after being elected by 68% of the electorate in December.
The Senate passed one bill cutting judgeships on Tuesday and another on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 197, amended by Morris on the floor, will cut two of the 12 judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, down from an initial proposed cut of four. Senate Bill 217 would cut a total of nine judges; four of 12 judges in the Orleans Parish criminal court, two of 14 from civil court, two of four from municipal and traffic court; and one of four from juvenile court.
The bills now go to the House for approval, as does Senate Bill 256.
Critics question intent of bills
The bills were about power, not efficiencies, said Sen. Royce Duplessis, the Democrat from New Orleans, the most vocal critic of the bills during Wednesday’s floor debate.
When the bills were heard before the Senate judiciary committee last week, his Democratic colleagues also reacted with skepticism to the legislation, which was authored by a senator from northern Louisiana who admitted in committee that he didn’t speak with Duncan or any Orleans judges before filing the legislation.
Morris said that the intent of Senate Bill 256 is to bring Orleans Parish in line with the rest of the state, where each parish has a single clerk’s office that handles both civil and criminal functions.
“This bill is to provide some efficiencies,” Morris said.
He also acknowledged that the legislation was timed to Duncan’s entrance. “Otherwise we’d probably have to pay him for four years in a job that’s going to be eliminated,” Morris said.
Duncan saw the merger as folly, because the work of the two clerk’s offices is not interchangeable, he said, describing the type of evidence and files that are specific to his office and not used within civil proceedings.
“The civil district court clerk doesn’t have a clue, doesn’t have a clue on how the records are supposed to be preserved, and how to preserve evidence,” he said. “She has no clue of how that works. Victims of crime will be affected by this.”
Duncan in the crosshairs
Since the clerk-consolidation bill was introduced in the Senate last month, some lawmakers and judicial officials raised grave concerns about how the change could affect day-to-day court functions, particularly in a system as large as Orleans Parish.
Some opponents of the bill also decried the move as politically motivated, because it seemed laser-focused on unseating Duncan, who served 28 years on a wrongful murder conviction before he was released and eventually exonerated, in 2021.
During Duncan’s campaign, state Attorney General Liz Murrill was publicly critical of his use of the word “exonerated” to describe himself, since he had initially pleaded guilty to earn his release, later returning to file paperwork that led to a judicial exoneration.
Morris had told Duncan that the bill’s aims were not personal, but instead were
“what the governor wants,” to “right-size” a courts system seen as bloated, which is unlike any other in Louisiana.
During the committee hearing last week, some residents spoke in defense of Duncan and warned lawmakers that the legislation would have a broader impact on the citizenry. “It’s hard to convey what that kind of process does to people’s trust in government,” said Steve Cochran, a New Orleans voter. “Those of you who keep voting yes are responsible for that loss of trust.”
Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, a Democrat from Lafayette, felt similarly. “We had an election there, and a candidate was selected by the people, he said. “My preference would have been for us to allow this individual to serve.”
Duplessis, who argued that the measure disregarded the will of the voters who had overwhelmingly elected Duncan, proposed an amendment that would have delayed the merger until May 2030, after Duncan’s four-year term.
The amendment was voted down.
Will it save money or create efficiencies?
During the floor debate, Duplessis asked about any data or formal analysis that could support the bill’s actions.
“So there was no study, no report that we’re aware of that pointed to any inefficiencies. within the clerk’s office?” Duplessis said.
Morris cited Supreme Court data from a report he had read from on the floor.
“Was there anything in the Supreme Court data that suggested that the civil district court was inefficient or that the criminal district court was inefficient?” Duplessis said.
“No, I don’t know that,” Morris responded.
“Well, we’re talking about the clerk’s office,” Duplessis said.
“I don’t recall there being any. There might be some, but I don’t know,” Morris said.
Duplessis also raised questions about the bill’s fiscal impact, because there was no fiscal note attached to the clerk-merger legislation.
“So, we don’t know. So we could end up spending more than we save,” said Duplessis, who — in closing — described the move as unprecedented in his time at the Legislature.
“I have seen some things in my eight years here, but nothing like this,” he said. “This is deeply troubling.”