ELR Citation: 56 ELR 20015
No(s). 23-987 (E.D. La. Feb 9, 2026) (Barbier, J.)

A district court denied a Louisiana parish's motion to dismiss a constitutional challenge brought by a community advocacy group, a local congregation, and a faith-based group over the siting of petrochemical plants in the parish. Plaintiffs asserted their members are residents of the parish descended from formerly enslaved persons whose civil liberties, property rights, and religious rights were violated by the parish's 2014 land use plan and actions before and after its adoption. They argued the parish 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 and Fourteenth Amendments, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and the Louisiana Constitution. The parish moved to dismiss all claims. The district court granted the motion largely as time-barred and plaintiffs appealed. The Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded, agreeing with plaintiffs that their claims were not based on a single incident—adoption of the land use plan—but rather a "longstanding pattern and practice of racially discriminatory land use decisions." On remand, the parish again moved to dismiss. The district court found plaintiffs traced the parish's current land use patterns directly to slavery and the plantation system and sufficiently alleged differential treatment, disparate impact, and discriminatory intent concerning the land use plan and the parish’s zoning and citing decisions. Finding all of plaintiffs' claims facially plausible, the court denied the parish's motion to dismiss.