NEW ORLEANS — Within hours of the recently elected New Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court being sworn in, an appellate court upheld a recent law eliminating the position won by an exonerated man who took in 68% of the vote.

A federal court initially found Act 15, the legislation that eliminated the Clerk of Criminal District Court position, which Calvin Duncan won, and consolidated it with the Clerk of Civil District Court, unconstitutional on Sunday. 

On Monday, the case went to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the federal judge's decision was successfully appealed. This means Act 15, which was signed into law on April 30, is in full effect. 

The Fifth Circuit decision came after Duncan was sworn in. 

"Through all the twists and turns, Clerk Calvin will make sure that what happened to him never happens to anybody else. God is in control," a Facebook post from Duncan's campaign said. 

"The plaintiffs’ briefing recognizes what the district court acknowledged but ignored: the question of whether the legislature could abolish an office it created and funded is a matter of state law. The appeal is proper, and if any court is to interpret what state law creates, when it creates it, and when it can be abolished by law, it will be the Louisiana Supreme Court," Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. "The Fifth Circuit has now stayed the misguided district court order."

Landry signed Act 15 into law on April 30, four days before Duncan's inauguration on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Duncan, said. The ACLU said that the law effectively appoints Clerk of Civil District Court Chelsey Napoleon to the post without requiring an election. 

Shortly after Act 15 was signed, Duncan and the ACLU filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order that argues it violates the Constitution and the rights of New Orleans voters. A federal judge agreed with the ACLU's assessment before the Fifth Circuit overturned this decision.