Correspondence from Reed to McDuff

    IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA 

RONALD CHISOM, et al., ) 
) 

Plaintiffs, ) 

) 
.) 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) 
) 

Plaintiff-intervenor, ) 
) 
) 

v. ) 
) 

CHARLES E. ROEMER, et al., ) 
) 

Defendants. ) 
) 

 ) 

Civil Action No. 
86-4075 

Section A 

UNITED STATES/ FIRST SET OF REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION  

Pursuant to Rule 36, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and 

the order dated September 2, 1988, the United States, plaintiff-

intervenor in the above-styled case, requests that within fifteen 

(15) days of the date of serice of this request, the defendants 

make an admission that each of the following statements is true. 

la. 

According to the 1980 Census, the State of Louisiana had a 

population of 4,205,900 of whom 1,238,241 (29.44%) were black 

persons. 

2a. 

The census further indicated that there were 2,875,432 

persons eighteen (18) years of age or older (voting age popula-

tion or "VAP") of whom 766,187 (26.44%) were black persons. 



3a. 

The Louisiana Supreme Court consists of seven members 

elected in public elections to ten-year terms. 

4a. 

For purposes of electing members of the state supreme court 

the state is divided into five single-judge election districts 

and one multi-judge election district. 

5a. 

The supreme court election districts are comprised of the 

following parishes: 

First district: Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaque-

mines and Jefferson. 

Second district: Caddo, Bossier, Webster, 

Claiborne, Bienville, Natichitoches, Red 

River, Desoto, Winn, Vernon and Sabine. 

Third district: Rapides, Grant, Avoyelles, 

Lafayette, Evangeline, Allen, Beuaregard, 

Jefferson Davis, Calcasieu, Cameron and 

Acadia. 

Fourth district: Union, Lincoln, Jackson, 

Caldwell, Ouachita, Morehouse, Richland, 

Franklin, West Carroll, East Carroll, Madi-

son, Tensas, Concordia, LaSalle, and Cata-

houla. 

Fifth district: East Baton Rouge, West Baton 

Rouge, West Feliciana, East Feliciana, St. 

2 



Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, St. Tamman-

any, Washington, Iberville, Point Coupee, 

St. Landry. 

Sixth district: St. Martin, St. Mary, Iberia, 

Terrebonne, Lafourche, Assumption, Ascension, 

St. John the Baptist, St. James, St. Charles, 

and Vermillion. 

Attachment A is a map of Louisiana which accurately indicates 

the supreme court election districts. 

6a. 

The five single-judge election districts consist of eleven 

to fifteen parishes; the First Supreme Court District, the sole 

multi-member district, consists of four parishes and elects two 

judges. 

and 

7a. 

The 1980 Census indicates that the population character-

istics for the six supreme court elections districts are as 

follows: 

Total pop.  

1 1,102,253 
2 582,223 
3 692,974 
4 410,850 
5 861,217 
6 556,383 

Black pop. (%)  

379,101 (34.39) 
188,490 (32.37) 
150,036 (21.65) 
134,534 (32.74) 
256,523 (29.79) 
129,557 (23.28) 

Total VAP 

772,772 
403,575 
473,855 
280,656 
587,428 
337,510 

Black VAP (%)  

235,797 (30.51) 
118,882 (29.45) 
92,232 (19.46) 
81,361 (29.99) 
160,711 (27.36) 
78,660 (23.31) 

8a. 

The 1980 Census indicates that the population character-

istics for the parishes in the First Supreme Court District 

[first district] are as follows: 



Parish 

Jefferson 
Orleans 
Plaquemines 
St. Bernard 

Total pop. Black pop. (%)  

454,592 
557,515 
26,049 
64,097 

63,001 (13.85) 
308,149 (55.27) 

5,540 (21.27) 
2,411 ( 3.76) 

Total VAP 

314,334 
397,183 
16,903 
44,352 

Black VAP(%)  

37,145 (11.81) 
193,886 (48.81) 

3,258 (19.27) 
1,508 ( 3.40) 

9a. 

As of July 1, 1988, registered voter data compiled by the 

Louisiana Commissioner of Elections indicated the following 

characteristics for 

District 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

the supreme court 

Total Regis. Voters  

503,181 
278,084 
373,463 
209,348 
472,773 
310,018 

election districts: 

Black Regis. Voters (%)  

161,484 (32.09) 
73,907 (26.58) 
72,816 (19.50) 
59,933 (28.63) 
121,318 (25.66) 
71,435 (23.04) 

10a. 

As of July 1, 1988, registered voter data compiled by the 

Louisiana Commissioner of Elections indicated the following 

characteristics for the first district: 

Parish 

Jefferson 
Orleans 
Plaquemines 
St. Bernard  

Total 

Total Regis. Voters  

203,000 
244,374 
14,327 
41,480  
503,181 

Black Regis. Voters (%)  

24,953 (12.29) 
132,094 (54.05) 

2,743 (19.15) 
1,694 ( 4.08)  

161,484 (32.09) 

ha. 

There is a majority-vote requirement in election contests 

for the supreme court. 

12a. 

Elections for the two positions in the first district are Q, 

4 



•not conducted in the same years (staggered terms). This precludes 

voters from single-shot voting. 

13a. 

Pursuant to state law, the Louisiana Supreme Court sits en 

banc and its jurisdiction extends statewide. 

14a. 

None of the members of the supreme court are elected on a 

statewide basis. 

15a. 

No parish lines are cut by the supreme court districts. 

16a. 

The State of Louisiana's Constitutional Convention of 1898 

imposed a "grandfather" clause as well as educational and prop-

erty qualifications for voter registration which were designed to 

limit black political participation. 

17a. 

Within ten years of the new qualification for voter regis-

tration authorized by the Convention of 1898, black voter regis-

tration had dropped from approximately 135,000 persons in 1896 to 

less than 1,000 persons in 1907. 

18a. 

In 1921, the state amended its constitution and replaced 

the "grandfather" clause with a requirement that an applicant 

"give a reasonable interpretation" of any section of the federal 

or state constitution. The United States Supreme Court in United  

States v. State of Louisiana, 380 U.S. 145 (1965) held this 



"interpretation" test to be one facet of the state's successful 

plan to disenfranchise its black citizens. 

19a. 

In 1923, the state Democratic Party established, pursuant 

to state law, an all-white primary which was in use until 1944. 

20a. 

Following the invalidation of the all-white primary in 

1944, the state adopted such electoral devices as citizenship 

tests, anti-single-shot laws and a majority vote requirement for 

party officers. 

21a. 

In 1972 two black candidates ran unsuccessfully for the 

supreme court from the first district. 

22a. 

No black person has been elected to the supreme court in 

•the Twentieth Century. 

23a. 

No black person has run in a contested election for judicial 

office in any parish in the first supreme court district other 

than Orleans parish. 

24a. 

The following list identifies all black persons who have 

been candidates in contested Orleans Parish judicial elections 

since 1978, the office they sought and the date of the election: 

Wilson Criminal Magistrate (September 16, 1978) 

Ortique Civil Dist. Ct. H (March 3, 1979, primary) 



Ortique Civil Dist. Ct. H (April 7, 1979, general) 

Julien Civil Dist. Ct. I (February 6, 1982, primary) 

Wilson Civil Dist. Ct. I 

Julien Civil Dist. Ct. I (March 20, 1982, general) 

Di Rosa Civil Dist. Ct. D (June 18, 1983) 

Dorsey Civil Dist. Ct. F (September 29, 1984, primary) 

Johnson Civil Dist. Ct. I 
Douglas Civil Dist. Ct. B 
Dannell Juvenile Ct. Div. A 
Gray Juvenile Ct. Div. A 
Young Juvenile Ct. Div. C 

Douglas Civil Dist. Ct. B (November 6, 1984, general) 

Young Juvenile Ct. Div. C 

Magee Civil Dist. Ct. F (February 1, 1986, primary) 

Wilkerson Civil Dist. Ct. F 

Magee Civil Dist. Ct. F (March 1, 1986, general) 

McConduit Municipal Court (September 26, 1986, primary) 
Lagarde Juvenile Ct. Div. D 

McConduit Municipal Court (November 4, 1986, general) 

Douglas 4th Cir. court of (October 24, 1987) 

appeals, Dist. 1 

Hughes Civil Dist. Ct. G (March 8, 1988, primary) 

Hughes Civil Dist. Ct. G (April 16, 1988, general) 

25a. 

There have been thirteen elections for district judgeship 

in Orleans Parish which featured a contest between a white and a 

black candidate since 1978. Black candidates have won three of 

the contests. In this same time period (1978 to the present), 

there have been thirteen elections for parochial or municipal 

judgeship positions which also have featured a contest between a 

7 



white and a black candidate. Black candidates have won three of 

these elections. 

26a. 

The court of appeals in Orleans Parish elects eight judges 

on a parish-wide basis with a numbered-post provision to a separ-

ate district of one of the appellate circuits. The only con-

tested court of appeals election involving a black candidate was 

in 1987 when a black candidate was defeated in Orleans Parish. 

27a. 

Ernest Morial became the first black person to serve on a 

court of appeals in this century when he ran unopposed in 1972. 

Israel Augustine also was unopposed in 1974, as was Joan Arm-

strong in 1984. 

28a. 

A regression analysis of the twenty-seven judicial elections 

contests identified in Requests 24a to 26a indicates that black 

voters cast a majority of their votes for the black candidate(s) 

in twenty-four of the contests. The regression estimates reveal 

that in only four of these twenty-four instances did the black 

candidates receive less than 60% of the votes cast by black 

voters and in fifteen, over half of the elections analyzed, the 

black candidate received over 75% of the votes cast by black 

voters. In no election, however, did a majority of white voters 

vote for the black candidate(s). According to the regression es-

timates, less than 10% of the white voters voted for the black 

candidate in thirteen of the contests. An examination of these 

8 



elections under an extreme case analysis indicates a similar re-

sult. 

29a. 

Judicial election contests constituted one-third (13 of 39) 

of the elections analyzed by a panel of this court in Major v. 

Treen, 574 F. Supp 325 (E.D. La. 1983). 

30a. 

The white population in the parishes surrounding Orleans 

Parish, some of whom consist of persons seeking to avoid court-

ordered school desegregation, are less receptive to candidacies 

by black persons than are residents of Orleans Parish. 

31a. 

The First Supreme Court District has twice the population 

of any congressional district in Louisiana and, in terms of 

population, is the largest of any of the state's election dis-

tricts. 

32a. 

After 1954, school boards in Louisiana failed to abolish de 

lure segregation in the public schools voluntarily and it was 

necessary for local federal courts to issue decrees in order to 

obtain compliance with federal law. 

33a. 

The state maintained a dual university system until 1981. 

34a. 

Public accommodations and facilities were not open to 

members of both races until the late 1960s. 

9 



35a. 

The following 1980 Census statistics indicate that black 

residents of the four parishes in., the first district lag signifi-
. 

cantly behind white residents in several socio-economic categor-

ies. 

Jefferson Orleans ' Plaquemines St.Bernard  

persons over 25 high . 

school grad. (%) 70;9 49.2 7Q.8 46.9 56.0 27.1 58.5 32;0 
. . 

- per capita income $8,302 4,279 9,781 3,985 6,620 3,185 6,660 3,155 

families below 

poverty level (7) 5.3 24.7 7.4 33.4 7.7 32.4 6.6 31.6 

persons 200% be-

- low poverty level (7)- 20,2. 55.0 8.0 29.1' 29.9 68.0 26.1 74.8 

• • 

%ofocivilian - 

,force Unemployed' - 3..6' 8.3. 4.0 10.1 • 3.5 14.4 4.7 15.0 

36a. 

• A consistent application of the state policy of electing 

members f the supreme court from single-judge election districts 

that do not cross parish lines would result in Orleans Parish 

constituting single-judge election district. 

37a. 

A supreme court election district comprised exclusively of 

Orleans Parish would have a black majority of the total popu-

lation (55.27%) and of the registered voters (54.05%). 



JOHN VOLZ WM. BRADFORD REYNOLDS 
United States Attorney Assistant Attorney General 

GERALD W. JONES 
STEVEN H. ROSENBAUM 
ROBERT S. BERMAN 
Attorneys, Voting Section 
Civil Rights Division 
Department of Justice 
P.O. Box 66128 
Washington, D. C. 20035-6128 
(202) 724-3100 



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• 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that on this2ji day of September 1988, I 

served a copy of the foregoing United States' First Set of Re-

quests for Admission by mailing a copy, by overnight express 

mail, to the following persons: 

William P. Quigley 
901 Convention Center Blvd. 
Fulton Place 
Suite 901 
New Orleans, LA 70130 

Roy Rodney, Jr. 
643 Magazine Street 
New Orleans, LA 70130 

Julius L. Chambers 
Charles Stephen Ralston 
C. Lani Guinier 
99 Hudson Street, 16th Floor 
New York, New York 10013 

Pamela S. Karlen 
University of Virginia Law School 
Charlottesville, VA 22901 

Ron Wilson 
Richards Building, Suite 310 
837 Gravier Street 
New Orleans, LA 70112 

William J. Guste, Jr. 
Attorney General 
Louisiana Department of Justice 
234 Loyola Avenue, 7th Floor 
New Orleans, LA 70112 

M. Truman Woodward, Jr. 
909 Poydras Street, Suite 2300 
New Orleans, LA 70130 

Blake G. Arata 
201 St. Charles Avenue 
New Orleans, LA 70130 



George Strickler, Jr. 
639 Loyola Street 
Suite 1075 
New Orleans LA 70113 

A. R. Christovich 
1900 American Bank Bldg. 
New Orleans, LA 70130 

Noise W. Dennery 
601 Poydras Street 
New Orleans, LA 70130 

Robert G. Pugh 
330 Marshall Street, Suite 1200 
Shreveport, LA 71101 

ROBERT S.BERMAN 
Attorney, Voting Section 
Civil Rights Division 
Department of Justice 
P.O. Box 66128 
Washington D. C. 20035-6128 

202-724-3100