Senate bill to hold judges accountable advances

Sen. Jay Morris wants to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to give legislators a role in removing judges. (Photo by Cross Harris / LSU Manship School News Service)

BATON ROUGE — A bill asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment giving legislators a say in removing judges advanced through a Senate Judiciary committee Tuesday.

Other bills advancing through judiciary committees would provide for an increase in infrastructure protections from foreign adversaries, and a ban on those who threaten student athletes from involvement in sports and mobile wagering.

State Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, said Senate Bill 123 would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to give legislators with a way to hold judges accountable beyond the current judicial commission.

He mentioned five cases where two juvenile court judges in Orleans Parish, Judge Candice Bates-Anderson and Judge Ranord J. Darensburg, released minors who faced charges for multiple crimes. After release, police arrested them on additional charges escalating in severity and violence.

If voters approve the constitutional amendment, the majority of the House and two-thirds of the Senate would need to vote to remove a judge permanently.

Morris made significant changes in his original draft of the bill to ensure passage by the Senate Judiciary C Committee.

Given concerns about possible political abuse, he removed a provision for the governor to initiate the removal of a judge. Morris also dropped from the bill a previous plan to include possible legislative dismissal of district attorneys.

Also Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary B Committee meeting included discussions about a bill by state Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, that would increase infrastructure protections from foreign adversaries.

Michael Lucci, founder of State Armor, a policy nonprofit that addresses global security threats, spoke to foreign attacks happening throughout the country on water systems, technology and electrical stations.

“Over the past decade, we have seen a change in how the Chinese Communist Party addresses the United States and they have exploited our open system to sell technologies into our system that create security vulnerabilities,” said Lucci.

Senate Bill 325, proposed by state Sen. Mike Reese, R-Leesville, would prohibit those who threaten violence or harm against student athletes from being involved in sports and mobile wagering. It also was advanced to the floor by the Judiciary B Committee. 

The proposed bill takes after similar legal frameworks established in Ohio and West Virginia around sports betting privileges.

“That’s what this bill does today is seeking to address what has become a growing problem of online harassment of our college athletes,” said Reese. 

In reference to Senate Bill 123, Morris said that there is an ongoing debate over whether the Louisiana Constitution’s impeachment article includes judges.

The Constitution currently has a section outlining the Judiciary Commission, which has the power to discipline judges and remove them with the permission of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

State Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, objected to Morris’ bill, saying she was concerned about the legislative branch overstepping.

“I wonder about what other failures actually occurred in each of those cases,” she said.

Bruce Reilly, the deputy director of Voice of the Experienced, a grassroots organization based in New Orleans advocating for criminal justice, also objected.

“I’m just wondering should this bill not be about amending the Judicial Commission, or should it not be about adding in judges into the impeachment section,” he said.

Morris did not agree with concerns about the governor overreaching.

“I didn’t think I could get across the finish line with that in the bill.” he continued. “The governor didn’t care. He just said that we need something to bring accountability to the judiciary in this state.”

To raise more support for the bill, Morris passed an amendment that removed district attorneys and gave the governor power to suspend and remove judges with the Legislature’s approval.

Morris said the process is a backstop for when the Judiciary Commission fails to take action, which former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor accused the commission of doing.

When he resigned on March 6, Traylor said, “It has been my experience in many instances when complaints have been made, nothing happens, even when there is appearance of doing wrong.”

One of the cases that Morris mentioned was the murder of Jacob Carter, a bagel shop owner from Tacoma, Washington. Gov. Landry mentioned this case in his opening address to the Legislature on March 9.

The 17-year-old Louisiana resident who was charged with Jacob Carter’s death in 2024 was on an ankle monitoring program. Despite getting notifications that the defendant repeatedly went past the geographical limits he was allowed to be in, the court did not act.

Morris said Carter’s family filed a complaint with the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, which said there was “insufficient evidence” to support allegations of misconduct.

The amendment must win by a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, then by a majority of Louisiana voters in the April 2027 election.

If codified into law, the amendment would be renamed the Jacob Carter Act.