Louisiana Voice

Of all the elections for public office that are held in this state, the ones that consistently leave me the most disgusted and frustrated are the ones for judges—at any level.

Take, for instance, the one for the Louisiana Supreme Court’s 1^st District race next month between William “Billy” Burris and Blair Downing-Edwards, both Republicans.

And the last word of the preceding paragraph is part of the disturbing problem I have with judges’ elections.

Last week, I received a mailout attacking Burris. I don’t know Burris. In fact, I never heard of him until I received the mailer that screamed out, “Billy Burris protects powerful predators instead of kids. We can’t trust him to keep us safe.”

Well, that certainly grabs one’s attention, doesn’t it?

On one side of the mailout said, “A local school official and political insider was found guilty of second-degree child cruelty. Judge Billy Burris refused to hear the case and called the child abuser ‘“’a good man.’”

Flip it over, and the mailer repeats the charge, explaining that the “political insider was found guilty on 4 counts of child cruelty” for:

• “Putting his hand over the mouth and nose of a 4-year-old until the child went limp.
• Wrapping packing tape around the heads of three 13-year-old boys.

It cited as its source for the information The Times-Picayune of Nov. 22, 2022.

And while those disciplinary acts surely appear to have been over the top, they certainly did not rise to the level of the far more serious crimes of sexual abuse which the ad’s breathless headline implies at first glance to anyone who reads no further.

In short, it’s gutter politics that’s beneath the dignity of what a judge’s election should be and does nothing to further the case for either candidate, both of whom should be running on the strict basis of interpretation of law–and certainly not partisan politics–as it applies to future cases that might come before the State Supreme Court.

Which brings us to 22^nd JDC Judge Burris and his opponent, First Circuit Court of Appeal Blair Downing-Edwards and the qualifications they claim make them the choice for the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Burris touts himself as “a conservative, rule-of-law-oriented judge. As proof if his “conservative” creds, he points to the fact that he is a member of the Federalist Society and a “lifetime” member of the National Rifle Association” and has received endorsements from Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (MCPAC) and SouthPAC, “reflecting support from the state’s business and conservative communities,” according to his web page which sports a photo of him all serious and carrying a shotgun over his shoulder like some serious American hunter.

As for Downing-Edwards, her television ad promotes her as a “rock-solid Republican” even as a video image of President Ineptstein appears with him arriving at some event. It’s a not so thinly-veiled effort to link her campaign to his coattails. Likewise, her web page tells us in somewhat contradictory terms that she “has built her career on a conservative judicial philosophy” but with “respect for the rule of law, and an unwavering belief that judges must apply the law as written—not legislate from the bench.”

If that is so, then I must respectfully ask why in hell she saw the need to remind us that she is a “longtime Republican” and of her “conservative judicial philosophy” and that Louisiana “deserves justices who are independent, rooted in conservative principles…”?

It has long been my contention that candidates for judgeships should lay partisan politics and personal philosophies aside and restrict their qualifications to the singular premise of interpreting the law as it is written and not how one feels it should apply to their personal tenets.

Adhering to that one principle is the only way a judge can be fair and impartial. Any other consideration in handing down a ruling is nothing more than grandstanding in the tradition of Clarence Thomas.

One last thought: at the bottom of that mailout attacking Burris was the disclaimer: “Paid for by Defend and Protect Louisiana: not authorized by any candidate of candidate’s committee.”

But with only Burris and Downing-Edwards in the race, it may as well have had her name all over it.