BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB)- The make-up of the Baton Rouge City Court may likely change in the coming months. Currently, three white judges sit on the court with two black judges. That's about to change with Judge Susan Ponder retiring, according to some. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states judicial districts will reflect the make-up of the community. The racial make-up in Baton Rouge after the 2010 census is 55 percent black and 34 percent white. A lawsuit has been filed in federal court, but the judge wanted the Louisiana Legislature to fix it.

Rep. Alfred Williams, D-Baton Rouge, is the author of the bill that failed on the House floor Tuesday by a vote of 44-40. Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge is disappointed in the bill's failure.

"I can't speak for those folks," said Smith. "All I can say is somebody evidently told them that this wasn't the right thing to do."

So now, rather than a legislative mandate to change the make-up of the court, a lawsuit will determine who's right.

By Erin Fulbright

BATON ROUGE - Bernette J. Johnson, the first African-American Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, will be the commencement speaker when 714 Southern University students receive their diplomas on Friday, May 17 during the Spring commencement ceremony.

The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Johnson was sworn in as Chief Justice on February 1. She was elected to serve on the Supreme Court in 1994 and was re-elected, without opposition, in 2000 and 2010. She has served on the Court’s Legal Services Task Force and has worked with the National Campaign on Best Practices in the area of Racial and Ethnic Fairness on the Court.

Her judicial career began in 1984 as the first woman elected to serve on the Civil District Court of New Orleans. She was re-elected, without opposition, in 1990 and was elected Chief Judge by her colleagues in 1994.

A memorial service will be held Friday May 17 at 10 a.m. to honor all law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.   The ceremony will take place in the plaza on the west side of the East Baton Rouge Parish Governmental Building, 222 St Louis Street.

It is sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police, Baton Rouge Lodge #1.  All law enforcement officers and the general public are invited to attend.

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