Calvin Duncan, who beat incumbent Darren Lombard in the Orleans Parish Criminal Court clerk race in November, was sworn into office on Tuesday (April 21) on the steps of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.
Duncan is set to assume office on May 4, unless the Louisiana Legislature and Republican Gov. Jeff Landry eliminate the position altogether. Senate Bill 256, which was introduced by Sen. John “Jay” Morris, R-Monroe, passed in the Senate on April
8 and is moving toward final passage in the House.
The bill, which consolidates the civil and criminal court clerks’ offices in Orleans Parish, eliminates the role of criminal clerk and puts the clerk of civil court in charge of the consolidated system. Should the bill pass as written, Civil District Court Clerk Chelsey Richard Napoleon would become the single Orleans court clerk. Landry has said that if it passes in the legislature, he intends to sign it.
On Tuesday, Duncan and his team used the swearing-in ceremony as a celebratory moment amidst uncertainty surrounding the future of the position.
“Take a deep breath and soak in this moment,” Emily Faye Ratner, the co-chair of Duncan’s transition team, told the crowd, adding that Duncan and his supporters had earned the moment.
Proponents of SB 256 have said that it aligns the Orleans Parish court systems with other parishes, saves money and makes the courts more efficient.
Duncan and many of his supporters have described the bill as a personal attack against him and an attempt to disenfranchise the voters of New Orleans.
In spite of the uncertainty, the mood in front of the courthouse at Duncan’s swearing in was festive.
The steps of the Criminal District Courthouse building were crowded with his supporters and elected public officials, including Mayor Helena Moreno and State Sen. Royce Duplessis. Duncan’s swearing-in was preceded by cheers of “no surrender, no retreat” and a speech by Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who’s served in the state legislature and on the New Orleans City Council.
“Dear friends, cherished citizens and animated electorate of the great Queen City of the South, our beloved New Orleans, today we celebrate, today we honor the will of the people of Orleans Parish — manifested on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025,” the day of Duncan’s runoff victory, Willard-Lewis thundered outside of the doors of the courthouse.
Willard-Lewis described Duncan as a “drum major for justice” and said her family loaned a Bible owned by her father Elliot Willard, a longtime educator and former member of the Orleans Parish School Board, for the swearing-in ceremony. Human rights lawyer Bill Quigley administered the oath.
A jailhouse lawyer who eventually graduated from law school, Duncan often refers to his struggle accessing his court records in his own search for justice. He spent some 30 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted for a 1981 murder. He was released from prison in 2011 and exonerated in 2021.
Duncan followed up his oath with a speech. He described his motivation for running for office as a long-term goal to bring justice to people who need to access their court records to challenge the justice system.
“Regardless of what they do in Baton Rouge and whoever gets this position,” Duncan said, “I hope that what happened to me, that they would make sure what happened to me would never happen to nobody in life.”
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This story was originally published by Verite News and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
