ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20180
No(s). 23-987 (E.D. La. Nov 16, 2023) (Barbier, J.)

A district court dismissed a civil rights challenge to St. James Parish's adoption of a land use plan in 2014. Nonprofit and religious groups argued their members were residents of the Parish descended from formerly enslaved people whose civil liberties, property rights, and religious rights were violated by the Parish's plan. The groups specifically argued the Parish had maintained a discriminatory, unequal, and injurious system that deprived their members of their rights via zoning and land use decisions, in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and the Louisiana Constitution. The Parish moved to dismiss. The court held that all of the groups' claims were procedurally deficient, but "[could not] say that their claims lack[ed] a basis in fact or rel[ied] on a meritless legal theory." It dismissed the suit.