Eddie Jordan, apparently the first black district attorney in New Orleans, has been a bad boy. He fired white employees to make room for black employees. A judge has ordered his administration to pay $3.58 million in damages and fees.
There were 43 plaintiffs, and most appeared to be support staff. Hmmm. I wonder why he fired white support staff but not white lawyers? Perhaps he did, and the white lawyers chose not to sue. Unlikely. I’m just guessing.
Jordan’s office is in bad shape, so I’m sure the plaintiffs aren’t holding their collective breath waiting for the cash. From The Times-Picayune:
His office has a backlog of 6,000 open cases at Criminal District Court, which reopened June 1 for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29. His chief investigator, Dwight Deal, is on paid leave after a witness from a criminal case accused him of sexual misconduct…And last week, Jordan, whose term runs until 2009, announced that the courthouse may benefit from adding temporary judges to the bench to deal with cases, a statement that offended a group of judges, including two former first assistant district attorneys who worked under Connick.
The reaction wasn’t pretty. Chief Judge Raymond Bigelow suggested in open court that Jordan’s staff needs to learn to work more efficiently with police officers.
Bigelow flatly denied prosecutors’ request to delay a case in his court and then mentioned Jordan’s suggestion to bring in extra judges.
“Maybe the fact that his office isn’t ready to go forward or the fact that the Police Department isn’t ready to go forward” is the problem, Bigelow said in court last week. “Until he fixes that, I’m not continuing any cases.”
Funny things happen when the Civil Rights Act is properly interpreted and applied.
