Redistricting fights over judges

Redistricting battles are erupting all over the country, and they are even affecting who may sit on the bench in state courts.  From the Daily Comet:

Louisiana’s 32nd Judicial District, which includes all of Terrebonne Parish, has five district court judges. Now, as always, all of those judges are white men. Boykin has said that diversity in the local courts is important to fostering perceptions of fairness.  “Some people are saying that race shouldn’t have anything to do with it. But race always has something to do with us when it comes to 200 years of slavery. Race mattered then, it mattered when we had to go to the back of the bus and when we had to go to different schools,” Boykin said. “We make up 19 percent of the population and it’s clear that we should have an African-American as a judge.”