NOLA judge suing Landry after losing his position. Does he have a case?

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New Orleans Criminal Court Judge John Fuller has sued Gov. Jeff Landry and other officials over recent cuts to the city's criminal bench, arguing that state lawmakers failed to reach a required two-thirds vote before Landry signed a law to nix three judicial seats.

Landry signed Act 748 into law this month, days after the Louisiana House signed off on a slate of eleventh-hour tweaks to the measure on the final day of the session. That came by a vote of 62-34 with nine state representatives absent.

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But the state constitution requires two-thirds super majority votes from both the House and the Senate to change the number of judges in any judicial district, Fuller argued in his petition for an injunction. Fuller says only the state Senate reached the supermajority mark of 26 votes on April 20, when that body passed Sen. Jay Morris’ bill along to the House for consideration.

At no point along the way did 70 members of the House cast yeas in favor of Morris’ Senate Bill 217, his lawsuit argues. And in approving a conference committee report that finalized the bill, the Senate fell one vote shy of the supermajority and the House was eight votes short, Fuller’s lawsuit indicates

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A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately return a comment on Monday. Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill, Secretary of State Nancy Landry and Orleans Clerk of Court Chelsey Richard Napoleon are listed as defendants.


“It appears that our lawmakers and our governor have wholly ignored our state’s constitution,” said Sarah Whittington, advocacy director of the ACLU of Louisiana. “The law here is clear: this bill did not pass, shouldn’t have been signed, and cannot be legally enforced.”

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