Challenge that points to racial disparities in New Orleans jury pools gets rejected by federal judge

A federal judge in New Orleans this week rejected a challenge to the way jury pools are formed in the Eastern District of Louisiana, downplaying the court's role in a consistent underrepresentation of Black people in those groups.

U.S. District Judge Barry Ashe wrote this week that those racial disparities -- the steepest in the country, according to available federal court data -- were largely the result of differing rates in which potential Black and White jurors return questionnaires in the 13-parish region. Read more...