DeSoto police jurors take no action on gerrymandering lawsuit
MANSFIELD, La. – DeSoto Parish police jurors were mum Monday night after emerging from a closed-door session to discuss a lawsuit accusing the governing body of gerrymandering its election district lines.
MANSFIELD, La. – DeSoto Parish police jurors were mum Monday night after emerging from a closed-door session to discuss a lawsuit accusing the governing body of gerrymandering its election district lines.
Their silence indicates at least for now they intend to defend the lawsuit – pending any future discussions that could lead to a different outcome.
Defense of the federal lawsuit so far has cost parish taxpayers almost $300,000. The costs will start adding up again as a federal judge has set a status conference next month for all parties to participate.
The lawsuit – filed in May 2023 by a group of DeSoto Parish voters – had been on hold since September when the plaintiffs asked the court to impose a stay in the proceedings while they awaited the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais. That ruling centered on Louisiana’s congressional redistricting map, which the court recently found unconstitutional because race was used as the primary factor in drawing the maps.
The DeSoto voters contend the same thing happened in 2023 when the Police Jury adopted its new district boundaries. They allege race was used as a factor because the new map protected the five Black police jurors – all of whom live within a few miles of each other in Mansfield where population has steadily declined – instead of having districts spread north where the population growth has exploded in recent years.
After the Supreme Court ruled, the plaintiffs asked the court to lift the stay, which U.S. District Judge Jerry Edwards Jr. did on Friday. Edwards set a video status conference date of June 9 for all parties to discuss setting a schedule for further proceedings in the case. Both sides were ordered to contact his office by Friday.