The jena six and the history of racially compromised justice in louisiana

Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review

Volumn 44, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 361-391

  Chin, Gabriel J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

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EID: 70049116611     PISSN: 00178039     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (325)

1. Andrew E. Taslitz & Carol Steiker, Introduction to the Symposium: The Jena Six, the Prosecutorial Conscience, and the Dead Hand of History, 44 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 275, 275-283(2009)(containing description of facts of the Jena Six case).
2. Id.
3. Id.
4. See Gabriel J. Chin, Race, the War on Drugs, and the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction, 6 J. Gender Race & Just. 253, 266-67, 271-273(2002).
5. From a defendant's perspective it might well be preferable to be found not guilty of, for example, drug dealing, than to have the charges dismissed based on a defense that is consistent with guilt. In favor of a discriminatory prosecution claim is that proof of innocence may require a trial, while a discriminatory prosecution defense is generally raised before trial. See United States v. Abboud, 438 F.3d 554, 579-580(6th Cir. 2006).
6. See, e.g., Reed Walters, Op-Ed., Justice in Jena, N.Y. Times, Sept. 26, 2007, at A27. Mr. Walters, the La Salle Parish District Attorney, claimed that there was no crime with which the noose-hangers could be charged.
7. See Jena Six and the Role of Federal Intervention in Hate Crimes and Race-Related Violence in Public Schools: Hearing Before the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 110th Cong. 5-6(2007), available at http://votesmart.org/speech- detaiI.php?sc-id=324763 [hereinafter H. Comm. Hearing: Jena Six and the Role of Federal Intervention](statement of Donald Washington, U.S. Attorney). Washington said: "I agree that there's a victim in this case who was brutally beaten, that the individuals who have been charged aren't saints or martyrs. They're young kids who were involved in conduct that needs to be addressed." Id.
8. See also id. (statement of Charles Ogletree, Professor, Harvard Law School)("It seems to me-along with Richard Cohen, that battery seems to be the appropriate charge. These were dramatically overcharged against the Jena Six."). That a crime occurred, of course, does not mean that some or all of the Jena Six could not have been mistakenly identified as participants.
9. See Máximo Langer, Rethinking Plea Bargaining: The Practice and Reform of Prosecutorial Adjudication in American Criminal Procedure, 33 Am. J. Crim. L. 223, 286-288(2006)
10. see also Stephanos Bibas, Plea Bargaining Outside the Shadow of Trial, 117 HARV. L. REV. 2463, 2517-2519 (2004)
11. For a number of citations to work on implicit bias, see Russell K. Robinson, Perceptual Segregation, 108 Colum. L. Rev. 1093, 1102 nn.25-29(2008).
12. Efforts to prove discrimination by a comparison to other prosecutions are almost never successful. But see Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 373(1886);
13. State v. Soto, 734 A.2d 350, 360(N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. 1996)(suppressing evidence based on statistical demonstration of racial profiling in traffic stops).
14. The courts seem to require prosecution of merely one race to prove discriminatory prosecution. See Ah Sin v. Wittman, 198 U.S. 500, 507(1905)(rejecting claim as "a mere allegation that the ordinance attacked was enforced against the Chinese only"). The Jena Six were initially charged with attempted murder, Taslitz & Steiker, supra note 1 at 278, surely an allegation that is sometimes brought against white people in Louisiana.
15. See discussion infra Parts II & III.
16. See discussion infra Part IV.
17. See discussion infra Part V.
18. See, e.g., United States v. Louisiana, 225 F. Supp. 353, 364-69(E.D. La. 1963)(three- judge court)(documenting that voter registration in 1867 was 45,189 white and 84,527 African American, and that by 1888 it was 126,884 white and 127,923 African American), affd, 380 U.S. 145(1965);
19. Charles Lane, The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of Reconstruction 38(2008)(stating that after 1867, there was a "black-majority electorate in Louisiana").
20. Gabriel J. Chin & Randy Wagner, The Tyranny of the Minority: Jim Crow and the Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty, 43 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 65, 81(2008). Although by 1890 the South was solidly Democratic, in the five presidential elections from 1884 to 1900, the Republican polled over 20%, and averaged over 25%. Historical Statistics of the United States Millennial Edition Online, Popular votes cast for President, by state and political party: 1836-2000 Table Eb208-259, http://hsus.cambridge.org/HSUSWeb/HSUS EntryServlet.
21. Chin & Wagner, supra note 16, at 81.
22. use the term "conservative" rather than Democrat because it is the self-description of this group and it is accurate over time, accounting, for example, for the Louisiana victories in the presidential election of the State's Rights Party in 1948 and Goldwater in 1964. "White" is also inaccurate, because many white Republicans, Populists, and even some Democrats were also negatively affected by disenfranchisement of African Americans.
23. See discussion infra Part III.B.
24. 20 See discussion infra Part IV.
25. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:126.2(1960).
26. Id.
27. Note, Federal Enforcement of Negro Voting Rights, 51 Va. L. Rev. 1051, 1068(1965)(quoting La. H. Con. Res. 27(1954)) [hereinafter Federal Enforcement].
28. The packages of laws passed by the Louisiana legislature throughout 1960 to prevent integration of schools and other facilities and African American voter registration are conveniently reprinted in 5 Race Rel. L. Rep. 857-86, 890-902, 1177-1235(1960).
29. Foster Rhea Dulles, the Civil Rights Commission: 1957-1965, at 41(1968)("The Louisiana officials were completely uncooperative in the preliminary investigations, tried to force the Commission to reveal the names of Negro complainants, instituted a civil suit challenging the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act itself, and finally appealed to a Federal District Court for a temporary order enjoining the Commission from holding the hearing.").
30. 363 U.S. 420(1960), rev'g 177 F. Supp. 816(W.D. La. 1959).
31. See La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:59(6)(1960). The Louisiana Supreme Court held that this bill and others enacted at the same time were not intended to be applied discriminatorily.
32. See State v. Goldfinch, 132 So. 2d 860, 863-64 & nn.2-3(La. 1961), rev'd, 373 U.S. 267. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed, finding that the particular criminal mischief statute at issue had indeed been used to preserve segregation. Lombard v. Louisiana, 373 U.S 267(1963).
33. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:126.2(1960).
34. Id.
35. See infra notes 50-55 and accompanying text.
36. See infra notes 72-80 and accompanying text.
37. See infra notes 63-71 and accompanying text.
38. See infra notes 72-80 and accompanying text.
39. Matthew J. Mancini, One dies, Get another: Convict Leasing in the American South, 1866-1928, at 19(1996).
40. See discussion infra Part III.B.
41. See infra notes 119-121 and accompanying text.
42. See infra note 127 and accompanying text.
43. See infra note 130 and accompanying text.
44. See infra Part IV.
45. See infra Part V.B.
46. See infra Part V.C.
47. The African American population presented a potential political danger to other regions of the country. The three-fifths compromise of the original Constitution was eliminated by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which counted the former slaves as full persons for purposes of apportioning Congress. Accordingly, if for some reason African Americans did not vote, the traditional disproportionate power of southern voters would be enhanced. Chin & Wagner, supra note 16, at 107-108
48. George Rutherglen, State Action, Private Action, and the Viirteenth Amendment, 94 VA. L. REV. 1367, 1397(2008).
49. See generally Theodore Brantner Wilson, the Black Codes of the South(1965).
50. See Gabriel J. Chin, The "Voting Rights Act of 1867": The Constitutionality of Federal Regulation of Suffrage During Reconstruction, 82 N.C. L. Rev. 1581, 1581-1582(2004).
51. Civil Rights Act of 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27(codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 1981-1982(2006)).
52. Act of June 16, 1866, ch. 48, 14 Stat. 358(proposing the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
53. Act of Feb. 27, 1869, ch. 14, 15 Stat. 346(proposing the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
54. Chin, supra note 43, at 1590-1591.
55. See Gabriel J. Chin, Reconstruction, Felon Disenfranchisement, and the Right to Vote: Did the Fifteenth Amendment Repeal Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment?, 92 Geo. L.J. 259, 270-271(2004).
56. See supra note 15.
57. 1869 La. Acts No.38 p. 37, invalidated by Hall v. DeCuir, 95 U.S. 485, 488(1877)(reversing judgment of Louisiana Supreme Court by holding that the anti-segregation law "impose[s] a direct burden upon inter-state commerce" and thus "does encroach upon the exclusive power of Congress"). However, the statute ron the books and was not repealed until the early twentieth century. FRANKLIN JOHNSON, THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATE LEGISLATION CONCERNING THE FREE NEGRO 34(Greenwood Press 1979)(1919).For more information regarding the history of this statute, see id.
58. JOHNSON, supra note 50, at 29;
59. see also, e.g., Joseph William Singer, No Right to Exclude: Public Accommodations and Private Property, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 1283, 1374 (1996).
60. Decuir v. Benson, 27 La. Ann. 1, 6(1875), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Hall v. Decuir, 95 U.S. at 490-491
61. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1(1967).
62. Hart v. Hoss, 26 La. Ann. 90, 94(1874). The Louisiana prohibition on interracial marriage was statutorily reinstated by 1894.
63. See State v. Treadaway, 52 So. 500, 502(La. 1910)(referring to the miscegenation law, 1894 La. Acts 63).
64. JOHNSON, supra note 50, at 32.
65. See, e.g., Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 351-352(1988)(noting that African Americans held office below the proportion of their population in the Reconstruction South).
66. Albert Bushnell Hart, The Realities of Negro Suffrage, 2 Proc. Am. Pol. Sci. Ass'n 149, 159(1905);
67. see also J. Morgan Kousser, The Undermining of the First Reconstruction: Lessons for the Second(detailing techniques, most from the 1870s, used to hamper African American voting), in Minority Vote Dilution 27, 31-36(C. Davidson ed. 1989).
68. Foner, supra note 56, at 436-440 For descriptions of this violence, see, for example, Nicholas Lemann, Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War(2006)(discussing Louisiana and Mississippi)
69. George C. Rable, But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction(1984)
70. Foner, supra note 56, at 425;
71. see also Allen W. Trelease, White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction 419(1971)(discussing role of violence in Democratic victories in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina in 1870 and noting that "[p]erhaps the Klan's most important effect-politically and otherwise-was to weaken Negro and Republican morale" and that "[t]he fact that it could get by with anything drastically reduced their will and capacity to sustain themselves").
72. Foner, supra note 56, at 425-426.
73. Id. at 134.
74. Lane, supra note 15, at 18.
75. Id. at 265-266.
76. Id. at 142.
77. Id. at 111-112.
78. Id. at 112.
79. Id. at 157-158
80. Id. at 172.
81. Id. at 186.
82. Id. at 203.
83. Id. at 215.
84. 92 U.S. 542(1876).
85. 92 U.S. 214(1876).
86. See generally Robert M. Goldman, Reconstruction and Black Suffrage: Losing the Vote in Reese and Cruikshank(2001).
87. Id. at 108.
88. John R. Howard, The Shifting Wind: The Supreme Court and Civil Rights from Reconstruction to Brown 111(1999).
89. Foner, supra note 56, at 569. Foner explains: "[T]he defeat of the 1875 Force bill, the Supreme Court's Cruikshank decision, and the President's refusal to send troops to Mississippi-had thoroughly demoralized many Southern Republicans. Feeling themselves 'abandoned. to the tender mercies of the Ku Klux Klan,' some abandoned the 1876 campaign."Id.(citation omitted)(omission in original).
90. Id. at 550-552(describing political violence in Louisiana elections).
91. Lane, supra note 15, at 251.
92. Id.
93. see also Foner, supra note 56, at 582(suggesting that "the abandonment of Reconstruction was as much a cause of the crisis of 1876-1877 as a consequence, for had Republicans still been willing to intervene in defense of black rights, Tilden would never have come close to carrying the entire South").
94. Amasa M. Eaton, The Suffrage Clause in the New Constitution of Louisiana, 13 Harv. L. Rev. 279, 279(1899)(arguing that motivation for revision was that "[f]raud upon the negroes naturally led to fraud upon members of any opposing faction, even if nominally of the same party");
95. J.L. Warren Woodville, Suffrage Limitation in Louisiana, 21 Pol. Sci. Q. 177, 177(1906)("When in 1898. a Convention was called to frame a new constitution for the state of Louisiana, it was clearly understood by everyone that the main object of the gathering was the elimination of the negro from Louisiana politics.").
96. Eaton, supra note 81, at 292.
97. Id. at 286-87;
98. Woodville, supra note 81, at 180-181.
99. Trudeau v. Barnes, 1 F. Supp. 453, 455(E.D. La. 1932)(recognizing unconstitutionality of 1898 grandfather clause), affd, 65 F.2d 563(5th Cir. 1933).
100. United States v. Louisiana, 225 F. Supp. 353, 377(E.D. La. 1963)(three-judge court), affd, 380 U.S. 145(1965);
101. cf. Marrero v. Middleton, 59 So. 863, 865(La. 1912)(holding voter's "registration as a white Democrat will not prevent a candidate in a primary election from contesting the validity of the vote of a colored person").
102. 163 U.S. 537(1896).
103. Brief of Plaintiff in Error at 20, Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537(1893)(No.95-210)(arguing that given the cases suggesting that the Fourteenth Amendment imposed few limits on state authority, "it is little wonder that the white people of the south declare themselves ready to resist even to the death; the domination of a colored majority in any state").
104. Plessy, 163 U.S. at 551.
105. Id. Justice Harlan's dissent pointedly ignored this issue. He first referred to legislative supremacy in a way that seems out of place in an opinion arguing that an enactment is unconstitutional: "There is a dangerous tendency in these latter days to enlarge the functions of the courts, by means of judicial interference with the will of the people as expressed by the legislature."
106. Id. at 558(Harlan, J., dissenting). He then acknowledged that "[t]he white race deems itself to be the dominant race. in prestige, in achievements, in education, in wealth, and in power⋯ [and] it will continue to be for all time⋯."
107. Id. at 559. Finally, he stated that "[s]ixty millions of whites are in no danger from the presence here of eight millions of blacks," putting African Americans in the minority.
108. Id. at 560.
109. 95 U.S. 485, 488(1878);
110. see also supra note 50 and accompanying text.
111. 92 U.S. 542 (1876);
112. see also supra text accompanying note 72.
113. 92 U.S. 214(1876);
114. see also supra text accompanying note 73.
115. William Cohen, Negro Involuntary Servitude in the South, 1865-1940: A Preliminary Analysis, 42 J. S. Hist. 31, 31(1976).
116. Douglas A. Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II 7-8(2008).
117. Mark T. Carleton, Politics and Punishment: The History of the Louisiana State Penal System 7(1971).
118. State v. McGuire, 94 So. 896, 897(La. 1922).
119. Mancini, supra note 33, at 145.
120. Ward v. Village of Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57, 60(1972);
121. Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510, 532-33(1927).
122. Blake McKelvey, Penal Slavery and Southern Reconstruction, 20 J. Negro Hist. 153, 157-158(1935);
123. Carleton, supra note 95, at 7(noting that "[f]rom 1844 to 1901, almost without interruption, Louisiana leased her convicts to a number of private operators").
124. Monroe N. Work, Negro Criminality in the South, 49 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 74, 77(1913).
125. McKelvey, supra note 99, at 176.
126. Id. at 177.
127. Mancini, supra note 33, at 146.
128. McKelvey, supra note 101, at 171.
129. Id. at 174.
130. For more information about how the private leaseholders profited enormously from convict leasing, see Matthew J. Mancini, Race, Economics and the Abandonment of Convict Leasing, 63 J. Negro Hist. 339(1978).
131. Mancini, supra note 33, at 150-151.
132. Blake McKelvey, A Half Century of Southern Penal Exploitation, 13 Soc. Forces 112, 115-116(1934).
133. James E. Crown, Peonage of Paroled Convicts Meets Louisiana Curb, N.Y. Times, Dec. 24, 1944, at 52(noting that "[t]he state is now engaged in busily investigating each case where prisoners have been assigned to work for favored employers").
134. Carleton, supra note 95, at 139.
135. Mancini, supra note 33, at 41.
136. Id.
137. Blackmon, supra note 94, at 67("The defendants would typically 'confess judgment.'⋯ The local judge then accepted payment⋯ from the white surety, rather than render a verdict on the alleged crime. In return, the African American farmer would sign a contract to work. for the white landlord for however long it took to pay back the amount of the bond.").
138. State v. Murray, 40 So. 930, 931(La. 1906).
139. See Wideman v. Selph, 30 S.E.2d 797, 797-798(Ga. Ct. App. 1944)(setting out sharecrop contract).
140. Cohen, supra note 93, at 34.
141. For more background on the criminal surety system, see United States v. Reynolds, 235 U.S. 133, 145-155(1914)(invalidating the criminal surety system).
142. Cohen, supra note 93, at 34.
143. State v. Cunningham, 58 So. 558, 561(La. 1912)(describing 1906 La. Acts 61);
144. see also State v. Patterson, 47 So. 511(La. 1908)(rejecting habeas corpus petition without prejudice because defendant had not yet exhausted all his appeals where defendant argued that the parish violated the 1902 statute because convicts were contracted out to work under inhumane conditions).
145. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:107(5).
146. Another section criminalized being "found in or near any structure, movable, vessel, or private grounds, without being able to account for.. lawful presence." La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:107(8).
147. See State v. Wilkins, 193 So. 2d 275, 275(La. 1966)(upholding nine month sentence for violating this statute).
148. City of Shreveport v. Scott, 175 So. 622, 623(La. 1937).
149. City of New Orleans v. Postek, 158 So. 553(La. 1934);
150. State v. Westmoreland, 63 So. 502(La. 1913).
151. Williams v. Fears, 179 U.S. 270(1900).
152. See generally Davison M. Douglas, Contract Rights and Civil Rights, 100 Mich L. Rev. 1541, 1544-1545 (2002).
153. Peonage Bill Hits Workers in Louisiana: Plantation Laborers Are Made Serfs, Chi. Defender, Aug. 21, 1926, at 1(citations omitted).
154. State v. Hunter, 114 So. 76(La. 1927).
155. Cohen, supra note 93, at 59.
156. 391 U.S. 145(1968).
157. Nancy J. King, Duncan v. Louisiana: How Bigotry in the Bayou Led to the Federal Regulation of State Juries, in Criminal Procedure Stories 261(Carol Steiker ed" 2006).
158. See, e.g. State v. Brown, 201 So. 2d 277, 280 n.3(La. 1967)(upholding nine month sentence for vagrancy)
159. Overruled by Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25(1972)(holding right to counsel exists where possibility of incarceration).
160. State v. Breaux, 79 So. 209, 209(La. 1917);
161. State v. Hunter, 38 So. 686, 686(La. 1905).
162. 219 U.S. 219(1911).
163. State v. Olivia, 80 So. 195(La. 1918).
164. See Scott v. District Attorney, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, 309 F. Supp. 833, 836(E.D. La. 1970)(invalidating sections on loitering and failure to give an account of one's lawful presence), affd per curiam, 437 F.2d 500(5th Cir. 1971);
165. State v. Pugh, 369 So. 2d 1308, 1309(La. 1979)(invalidating "habitual drunkard" section);
166. see also Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 162(1972)(invalidating similar Florida law);
167. Gordon v. Schiro, 310 F. Supp. 884, 891(E.D. La. 1970)(invalidating portions of New Orleans vagrancy ordinance).
168. Cohen, supra note 93, at 49.
169. Pete Daniel, The Shadow of Slavery: Peonage in the South, 1901-1969, at 30- 31(1972).
170. Cohen, supra note 93, at 34.
171. Blackmon, supra note 94, at 7.
172. Cohen, supra note 93, at 50.
173. United States v. McClellan, 127 F. 971, 972-73(S.D. Ga. 1904). The court's real attitude is reflected in its later description of the practices these leading citizens supported: "Is it not involuntary servitude to seize by force, to hurry the victim from wife and children, to incarcerate him in a stockade, and work him in range of the deadly muzzle of the shot-gun, or under the terror of the lash, and continue this servitude as long as resentment may prompt, or greed demand?
174. Id. at 976.
175. Id. at 973.
176. Peonage in Louisiana, N.Y. Times, Nov. 23, 1903, at 2.
177. The War on Peonage, CHI. DAILY TRIB., Nov. 27, 1903, at 6.
178. Deputy Marshal Murdered, N.Y. Times, Dec. 3, 1904, at 1.
179. Peonage in Louisiana, supra note 141, at 1.
180. Laborers Complain of J.A. M'llhenny, N.Y. Times, Feb. 3, 1908, at 4.
181. Louisiana Planter Convicted of Peonage, CHI. DEFENDER, Apr. 5, 1930, at 1.
182. Levee Contractors Accused of Brutality, Hartford Courant, Dec. 1, 1931, at 2.
183. See, e.g., Peonage Witness Tells of Manhunt, N.Y. Times, Feb. 26, 1949, at 3;
184. Tell of More Peons: Lumber Workers of Louisiana Ask Wilson to Investigate, Wash. Post, May 30, 1913, at 4(reporting a union's claims that "thousands of workers are being held in a state of peonage by lumber companies throughout the South" and that "the governor and all the authorities of Louisiana have ignored and treated with contempt our every demand for redress").
185. U.S. 483(1954).
186. See, e.g., Alan Wieder, The New Orleans School Crisis of 1960: Causes and Consequences, 48 Phylon 122, 122(1987).
187. United States v. Louisiana, 225 F. Supp. 353, 378(E.D. La. 1963)(three-judge court), affd, 380 U.S. 145(1965).
188. Id.
189. Id.
190. Id.
191. Id.
192. See generally Neil McMillen, The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction 1954-1964(1994)(describing the Citizens' Councils).
193. United States v. Louisiana, 225 F. Supp. at 378(citation omitted)(omission in original).
194. Id.(quoting Art. II of the Association of Citizens' Councils of Louisiana's Act of Incorporation).
195. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 17:101(added by Acts 1958, No. 259, § 1), invalidated by Bush v. Orleans Parish Sch. Bd" 308 F.2d 491(5th Cir. 1962).
196. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 17:101.
197. See, e.g. Note, The Federal Courts and Integration of Southern Schools: Troubled Status of the Pupil Placement Acts, 62 COLUM. L. REV. 1448, 1452(1962)("The particular genius of the assignment statutes derives from the provisions designed to individualize consideration of requests for transfers.").
198. Bush, 308 F.2d at 498
199. see also East Baton Rouge Parish Sch. Bd. v. Davis, 287 F.2d 380, 381(5th Cir. 1961).
200. Bush, 308 F.2d at 500.
201. Note, supra note 23, at 1068.
202. Note, supra note 23, at 1068. For overviews of the period, see John H. Fenton, The Negro Voter in Louisiana, 26 J. NEGRO EDUC. 319, 320(1957) and Federal Enforcement, supra note 23, at 1068-72. Extensive factual material about disenfranchisement in Louisiana is available from the reports of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
203. See HEARINGS BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS: HEARINGS HELD IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA 107, 114-17(1961), reprinted in 2 GABRIEL J. CHIN LORI WAGNER, U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS: REPORTS ON VOTING(2005);
204. 1 1961 REPORT OF THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS: VOTING 39-72(1961)(discussing findings of investigation in Louisiana), reprinted in CHIN & WAGNER, supra.
205. United States v, Louisiana, 225 F. Supp. 353(E.D. La. 1963) (three-judge court), ajfd, 380 U.S. 145(1965).
206. See, e.g., Philip Frickey, Judge Wisdom and Voting Rights: The Judicial Artist as Scholar and Pragmatist, 60 Tul. L. Rev. 276, 278-282(1985).
207. 42 U.S.C. § 1973(a)-(b)(1965).
208. United States v. Louisiana, 380 U.S. 145(1965).
209. United States v. Louisiana, 225 F. Supp. 353, 356(E.D. La. 1963)(three-judge court), affd, 380 U.S. 145(1965).
210. Id.
211. Id. at 379.
212. Id. at 377-381
213. Id. at 377. Before the mid-1940s, the white primary made use of the understanding test unnecessary.
214. Id.
215. Id. at 385.
216. Id. at 383-384.
217. Id. at 387.
218. United States v. Louisiana, 380 U.S. 145, 156(1965).
219. Id.
220. Blackmon, supra note 94, at 6.
221. Adam Fairclough, Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972, at 395-398(1995).
222. Wyche v. Hester, 431 F.2d 791(5th Cir. 1970) (remanding for hearing on habeas corpus petition);
223. Wyche v. Louisiana, 394 F.2d 927(5th Cir. 1967)(holding removal improperly denied and remanding for hearing on question of whether defendant was engaged in federally protected activity). The facts are described in FAIRCLOUGH, supra note 180, at 398
224. United States v. Post, 297 F. Supp. 46(W.D. La. 1969)(invalidating election under Voting Rights Act where voting machines had party levers, but only Wyche's name had been disconnected).
225. See generally Comment, Voting Rights: A Case Study of Madison Parish, Louisiana, 38 U. CHI. L. REV. 726(1971).
226. See, e.g., Davis v. Francois, 395 F.2d 730(5th Cir. 1968)(enjoining prosecution of persons protesting segregated school in Port Allen, Louisiana);
227. Bush v. Orleans Parish Sch. Bd., 308 F.2d 491(5th Cir. 1961)(enjoining enforcement of new criminal laws designed to frustrate integration);
228. Duncan v. Perez, 321 F. Supp. 181(E.D. La. 1970)(enjoining prosecution of successful litigant in Duncan v. Louisiana on spurious battery charges), offd, 445 F.2d 557(5th Cir. 1971);
229. Sobol v. Perez, 289 F. Supp. 392(E.D. La. 1968)(three-judge court)(per curiam)(enjoining prosecution of civil rights lawyer in Plaquemines Parish);
230. see also City of Baton Rouge v. Douglas, 446 F.2d 874(5th Cir. 1971)(per curiam)(remanding for hearing on removal petition of disorderly conduct prosecution of person trying to integrate restaurant);
231. Mahaney v. Louisiana, 427 F.2d 850(5th Cir. 1970)(per curiam)(remanding for hearing on removal);
232. Whatley v. City of Vidalia, 399 F.2d 521, 521(5th Cir. 1968)(allowing removal of a "state prosecution of Negro citizens allegedly engaged in a federally granted and protected right of encouraging others to register and vote");
233. Robertson v. Johnson, 376 F.2d 43(5th Cir. 1967)(seeking to enjoin New Orleans vagrancy prosecution against white woman in company of African Americans sufficiently pleaded to proceed).
234. Knight v. State, 161 So. 2d 521(Miss. 1964). Defendant Pauline Knight Ofosu was expelled from college at the time, but in 2008 her alma mater Tennessee State University awarded her an honorary doctorate.
235. See Honorary Degrees for Freedom Riders, and More, The Week, Oct. 3, 2008, http://www.theweek.eom/article/index/89174/3/Honorary-degrees-for-Freedom- Riders-and-more.
236. Knight, 161 So. 2d at 523.
237. United States v. Fordice, 505 U.S. 717, 746-747(1992)(Thomas, J., concurring).
238. Gary Orfield & Chungmei Lee, Racial Transformation and the Changing Nature of Segregation 18(2006), available at http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla. edu/research/deseg/Racial-Transformation.pdf(reporting that California, Mississippi, and Texas had lower percentages, though only states with 5% or more African American population were listed).
239. Id.
240. Id. at 26.
241. Edward L. Glaeser & Jacob L. Vigdor, Racial Segregation in the 2000 Census: Promising News 9(2001), available at http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/ census/glaeser. pdf.
242. Id. at 3.
243. Id. at 9-11.
244. Id.
245. Id. at 10-11(listing Monroe, New Orleans, Houma, and Lake Charles).
246. Id. at 9-14.
247. Id.
248. See The Anti-Defamation League, Extremism in America: David Duke, http://www. adl.org/Learn/Ext-US/duke.asp(last visited Mar. 5, 2009) [hereinafter Extremism in America: David Duke];
249. see generally David Duke and the Politics of Race in the South(John C. Kuzenski, Charles S. Bullock III & Ronald Keith Gaddie eds., 1995).
250. David Duke, Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening to the Jewish Question(2003);
251. see also David Duke, My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding(1998).
252. See Extremism in America: David Duke, supra note 198.
253. Id.
254. Id.
255. Louisiana Secretary of State, Official Election Results, Results for Election Date: 10/ 06/90, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp= elcms2&rqsdta= 100690(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
256. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish-Official, Results for Election Date: 10/06/90, U. S. Senator, http://www400.sos.louisiana. gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta= 10069014012601(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
257. Louisiana Secretary of State, Official Parish Election Results, Results for Election Date: 10/06/90, Parish of LaSalle, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov: 8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10069030(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
258. Louisiana Secretary of State, Official Election Results, Results for Election Date: 10/ 19/91, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp= elcms2&rqsdta=101991(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
259. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish-Official, Results for Election Date: 10/19/91, Governor, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov: 8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta=10199110012919(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
260. Id.
261. Louisiana Secretary of State, Official Election Results, Results for Election Date: 11/ 16/91, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp= elcms2&rqsdta=ll 1691(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
262. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish-Official, Results for Election Date: 11/16/91, Governor, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov: 8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta= 11169110012919(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
263. See Jonathan Knuckey & Byron D'Andrea Orey, Symbolic Racism in the 1995 Louisiana Gubernatorial Election, 81 Soc. Sci. Q. 1027, 1028(2000), available at http://digital commons.unl.edu/poliscifacpub/6(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
264. Louisiana Secretary of State, Official Election Results, Results for Election Date: 10/ 21/95, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp= elcms2&rqsdta= 102195(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
265. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish, Official Results for Election Date: 10/21/95, Governor, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov: 8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta= 10219510012919(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
266. Louisiana Secretary of State, Official Election Results, Results for Election Date: 11/ 18/95, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp= elcms2&rqsdta=111895(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
267. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish, Official Results for Election Date: 11/18/95, Governor, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov: 8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta= 11189510012919(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
268. Hays v. Louisiana, 936 F. Supp. 360, 364 n. 17(W.D. La. 1996).
269. Associated Press, Son of Indian Immigrants Is New Louisiana Governor, Oct. 21, 2007, MSNBC.com, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21397966.
270. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish, Official Results for Election Date: 10/20/07, http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/ cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta= 102 00710012919(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
271. James W. Loewen, The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White(2d ed. 1988).
272. Hrishi Karthikeyan & Gabriel J. Chin, Preserving Racial Identity: Population Patterns and the Application Of Anti-Miscegenation Statutes to Asian Americans, 1910-1950, 9 Asian L.J. 1, 36-40, app. A, app. B(2002)(tracking Asian population in the United States over time).
273. See Tayyab Mahmud, Genealogy of a State Engineered "Model Minority": "Not Quite/Not White" South Asian Americans, 78 Denv. U. L. Rev. 657(2001).
274. See, e.g., Chris K. Iijima, Political Accommodation and the Ideology of the "Model Minority": Building a Bridge to White Minority Rule in the 21st Century, 7 S. CAL. IN- TERDISC. L.J. 1(1998)
275. Miranda Oshige McGowan & James Lindgren, Testing the "Model Minority Myth," 100 Nw. U. L. Rev. 331(2006).
276. Charles Franklin, White Vote for Obama in the States, Part 2, Pollster.com, Nov. 15, 2008, http://www.pollster.com/blogs/white-vote-for-obama- in-the-st-l.php.
277. Id.
278. Id.
279. Id.
280. Id.
281. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results by Parish, Official Results for Election Date: 11/04/08, Presidential Electors, http://www400.sos. louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta=11040801017141(last visited Mar. 31, 2009).
282. Debo P. Adegbile, Voting Rights in Louisiana: 1982-2006(2006), reprinted in 17 S. Cal. Rev. L. & Soc. J. 413, 433(2008).
283. Id.
284. Carleton, supra note 95, at 7.
285. Heather C. West & William J. Sabol, Prisoners in 2007, BUREAU OF JUST. STATISTICS BULL., at 19(2008), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ pub/pdf/p07.pdf. This statistic refers to sentences over one year.
286. Lauren E. Glaze & Thomas P. Bonczar, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2006, Bureau of Just. Statistics Bull., at 5(2007), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ppus06.htm. This implies that the high imprisonment rate is not explained, for example, by shorter sentences leading to quicker parole.
287. Id. at 3(citing 1186 per 100,000, whereas the national average is 1868 per 100,000).
288. S. Ct. 2641(2008).
289. Michelle Millhollon, Jindal Signs Chemical Castration Bill, The Advocate, June 26, 2008, at 6A.
290. Marc Mauer & Ryan S. King, The Sentencing Project, Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity 11(2007), available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/ Admin%5CDocuments%5Cpublications%5Crdstateratesofincbyraceand ethnicity.pdf.
291. Id.
292. West & Sabol, supra note 231, at 24.
293. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:824(2005).
294. 12 La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:708(2005);
295. 12 La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:855(2005).
296. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:571.3(2005)(providing for sentence credit for voluntary work).
297. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:711(2005)(parish work release);
298. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:1111(state prison).
299. La. Att'y Gen. Op. No.89-166(1989).
300. For an example of an abuse of the work-release program by providing inexpensive labor to favored employers, see Watson v. Graves, 909 F.2d 1549, 1552(5th Cir. 1990).
301. La. Atfy Gen. Op. No.88-489(1988).
302. Adam Nossiter, With Jobs to Do, Louisiana Parish Turns to Inmates, N.Y. Times, July 5, 2006, at Al.
303. Id.
304. Id. at A13.
305. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33:1423(2009).
306. Id.
307. La Salle Parish Sheriff, Annual Financial Statements for the Year Ended June 30, 2005, 11(on file with author).
308. La Salle Parish Sheriff, Annual Financial Statements for the Year Ended June 30, 2006, 11(on file with author).
309. Nossiter, supra note 246, at A13.
310. The GEO Group, Inc., Corporate Milestones, http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/ milestones.asp(last visited Mar. 5, 2009).
311. Fox Butterfield, Privately Run Juvenile Prison in Louisiana Is Attacked for Abuse of Six Inmates, N.Y. Times, Mar. 16, 2000, at A14.
312. Id.
313. United States v. Brown, 298 F.3d 392, 394(5th Cir. 2002)(affirming conviction of Edwards's associate).
314. Butterfield, supra note 255, at A14.
315. Julia Dahl, Private Prison Co. Again Accused of Human Rights Abuses, Report: Immigrants in US Facility Held in "Atmosphere of Intimidation," ABCNews.com, Aug. 5, 2008, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ Story7id-5466166.
316. United States v. Louisiana, Civ. No. 98-947-B-l(M.D. La., filed Nov. 5, 1998).
317. Butterfield, supra note 255, at A14.
318. Id.
319. News Release, The GEO Group, The GEO Group Announces Agreement for the Housing of Immigration Detainees at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana(July 25, 2007), available at http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix. zhtml?c=91331&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1031073 [hereinafter GEO Group News Release].
320. La Salle Economic Development District, Financial Statements and Independent Auditors Report for the Year Ended December 31, 2007(on file with author).
321. See GEO Group News Release, supra note 262.
322. Of course, only non-citizens are housed in immigration facilities.
323. See H. Comm. Hearing: Jena Six and the Role of Federal Intervention, supra note 7.
324. See, e.g. State v. Mamon, 743 So. 2d 766, 769(La. App. 1999)(citing State ex rel. Guste v. K-Mart Corp., 462 So. 2d 616, 620(La. 1985)).
325. See H. Comm. Hearing: Jena Six and the Role of Federal Intervention, supra note 7.