2 Louisiana Supreme Court candidates disqualified, leaving 1 on the ballot

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An upcoming election in a new majority-Black state Supreme Court district in Louisiana may already be decided after two of three candidates were disqualified from the race under an opinion issued by the very court they were running for.

The high court’s decision Tuesday evening to drop two candidates from the ballot for failing to meet qualification requirements leaves 1st Circuit Court of Appeal Judge John Michael Guidry unopposed in the Nov. 5 election. He would be the second sitting Black justice and the second Democrat serving on the seven-member state Supreme Court.

Only three Black justices have served on the state’s highest court in its nearly 120-year history, each elected from a majority-Black district in the New Orleans area. The Legislature this year created a second majority-minority district, which is anchored in the capital city of Baton Rouge and extends up the Mississippi River. The district covers the entirety of 13 other parishes on the northeast side of the state.

Booted from the race — after not providing adequate proof that they filed their tax returns in a timely manner, according to the court’s 5-2 ruling — are Marcus Hunter, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal, and Leslie Chambers, chief of staff for the Louisiana Housing Corporation.

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