Governor Jeff Landry is asking Congress to shift West Feliciana Parish’s federal judicial district from the Middle District to the Western District.
In a letter to lawmakers, Landry stated that his reason is to ease the caseload in a district with a growing population.
However, legal analyst Franz Borghardt said Landry has an ulterior motive – to shift cases involving prisoners at Angola to courts where he could get more favorable rulings.
“He’s basically saying, ‘These judges were appointed by Obama, who was a Democrat and left-leaning, and we’re not going to get justice in the Middle District,'” Borghardt said.
All judges in the Middle District were appointed by former President Barack Obama, whereas the vast majority of the judges in the Western District were appointed by President Donald Trump. Borghardt said once confirmed to the federal bench, that’s when politics are supposed to come to an end.
“Federal judges are appointed for life, specifically so they don’t have to be political, so they don’t have to run for reelection,” Borghardt said.
Borghardt said shifting cases involving Angola prisoners to the Western District will not guarantee Landry any change in outcomes in those cases, since the president who nominates a certain judge to the federal bench is no indication of how that judge will rule in future cases.
“Just because a conservative or a liberal judge is appointed by a conservative or liberal president, it doesn’t mean that their rulings are conservative or liberal,” Borghardt said.
It will require an act of Congress to approve Landry’s request; Borghardt said approval is far from guaranteed.
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