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Sen. Morris receives death threats after heated redistricting hearing; state officials respond
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BATON ROUGE – Republican Sen. Jay Morris of West Monroe said Monday he and his staff received death threats following a contentious committee hearing Friday on redrawing the state’s six U.S. House districts, and he called on the state’s Democratic Party leadership to recant a statement that he had used a racial slur during the dustup.
Republicans also announced plans to move up the clock on hearings to redraw the state’s congressional maps. The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee will resume hearings on Tuesday evening.
Morris, who authored several bills that would redraw Louisiana’s congressional maps in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that race could not be used as a deciding factor, said his office received 150 voicemails over the weekend, and several that were “vile and outrageous.”
“One of those voicemails called for a mass shooting at my office,” Morris told his colleagues in a four-minute address on the Senate floor. “Now, 99.999% of the people in the world would never take any action, but there are a few. … I'd readily quit this job than have one hair hurt on any member of my family.”
The Louisiana Democratic Party released a statement on Friday that Morris, who was testifying on one of the redistricting bills, turned toward Democratic Party executive director Dadrius Lanus, who was seated nearby, and said, 'Shut up, boy!'”
Lanus is Black.
Morris acknowledged he did say “you all need to shut up,” but he said those words were directed at people he said were making disruptive comments. He denied using the word “boy.”
The incident occurred as Morris was leaving the hearing room just after Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, chairman of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, called a recess following a verbal exchange between Morris and Sen. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans.
Morris said several videos taken by news media of the incident prove he had not used racially charged language as he left the hearing room. WBRZ, which was filming the committee meeting, posted the altercation to its social media pages.
“The falsehoods attributed to me have been very hurtful to me, my family,” Morris said. “The Democratic Party put out a statement that is provably false, that I said some things that I did not say. If I said those things, I would get down on my knees right now and beg for your forgiveness, but I did not say them.”
Carter, who is Black, used a two-minute “personal privilege” address Monday to apologize to his Senate colleagues for losing his temper when discussing Morris’ proposed legislation Friday.
“To the extent, Sen. Morris and Mr. Chairman, that my attacks, my questions, seemed like personal, ‘ad hominem’ attacks on you, I apologize,” Carter said. “I did not intend that at all as part of me losing my temper during the course of the hearing. But these are some very important matters.”
Carter clarified that he was not suggesting that Morris was racist but that his legislation this session would effectively reduce the number of Black officeholders. Morris has filed bills to consolidate the court clerks’ office in New Orleans and cut the number of criminal and civil court judges in the parish.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also weighed in on the contentious meeting when she released the following statement, addressing what she described as the intentional misquoting of a state senator and the threats that followed.
"The political process is designed to encourage participation and debate and to provide a forum for people to be heard," Murrill said. "There is absolutely no place for violence or threats in this process."
Murrill said that Morris was "intentionally misquoted by individuals with their own motives, but the record is not ambiguous."
"This is completely unacceptable and every member of the Senate and House should condemn it because it ultimately threatens them too," Murrill said. "Things can get heated and tempers may flare, but we all have a responsibility to make sure they do not cross unacceptable boundaries."
The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee originally had planned to resume hearings on the redistricting plan on Wednesday, but that timetable has been accelerated. The committee is expected to meet on Tuesday afternoon after the full Senate adjourns.
While the current congressional map has four Republican and two Democratic seats, Gov. Jeff Landry told NOLA.com in a brief interview on Monday that the most likely split will be 5-1.
“I would like a map that gives Republicans the most amount of seats, but is defensible at the same time,” Landry told NOLA.com.
He said giving Republican majorities in all six districts “becomes very difficult.”
In response to the death threats, Landry asked that the discussion of the maps and the redistricting remain civil.
"All I'm asking from fellow Louisianians is that we have a civil and intellectual debate. I know that these senators are ready to hear you, and I know you will bring solid and passionate arguments," Landry said. "But again, I ask that we keep it civil and respectful. Thank you and God bless Louisiana."
Meanwhile, on 5-1 votes, the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure approved two bills by Morris calling for constitutional amendments focused on removing judges and on criminal procedure.
Rep. Wilford Carter, D-Lake Charles, was the only person to vote no on the bills. He did not offer a reason.
Senate Bill 123 would require the governor to certify a judge’s removal after a majority of the House and a two-thirds majority of the Senate vote. Landry noted judicial accountability as one of his legislative priorities this year.
Before SB 123 advanced in the Senate Judiciary committee on March 24, Morris chose to remove a provision for the governor to initiate the removal of a judge through an executive order, given concerns about possible political abuse.
Morris also dropped from the bill a previous plan to include possible legislative dismissal of district attorneys. The bill has the same voting requirements as the impeachment process in the Louisiana Constitution.
When presenting his bill in March, Morris noted multiple examples of Judge Candice Bates- Anderson and Judge Ranord J. Darensburg, two juvenile court judges in Orleans Parish, releasing minors facing charges who went on to be arrested for additional crimes, including robbery and murder.
Morris also mentioned one judge in his district who acquitted a murder trial defendant in a bench trial despite video camera footage of the crime. On March 26, the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered a second investigation of Bates-Anderson and Darensburg.
Bates-Anderson and Darensburg are both Democrats, and they can run for re-election this year. The bill says judges could be removed only for “gross misconduct, malfeasance or incompetence.”
Senate Bill 97 would require prosecutors’ written consent for defendants to waive their rights to a jury trial. The federal court system has this requirement in place before bench trials take place.
Chris Alexander from the Louisiana Citizen Advocacy Group spoke in opposition to SB 97.
“The right to trial by jury in our view is a fundamental constitutional right and, as such, the waiver of that right in our view should be equally fundamental,” Alexander said. “There shouldn't be any requirement on the part of a defendant to get the government's permission to waive a fundamental right.”
These bills passed through the Senate with party-line votes. If these bills pass the House floor and are signed by the governor, a majority of voters would need to approve them in the April 2027 election.
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