The Advocate. June 16, 2024.
Editorial: A changing of minds leads to justice
We were gratified to learn last week that the Louisiana State Supreme Court had, in a surprising move, reversed a decision it had made earlier this year and declared the state’s “lookback window” law constitutional.
The law, which sailed through the Legislature in 2021, allows the victims of childhood sexual abuse a three-year window to file civil claims against their abusers no matter how long ago the abuse occurred and how old they are currently. The previous law required that victims file claims by the time they were 28 years old. The law has implications for the hundreds of victims who have filed suit against Catholic dioceses across the state, but other denominations, sports teams, scouting organizations and the like could also be impacted.
The law was passed in the wake of credible allegations made against hundreds of Catholic clergymen across the state in recent years.
In March, by a 4-3 vote involving a case from the Diocese of Lafayette, the state’s highest court struck down the law. It concluded that lawmakers can extend the period in which claims can be filed, but ruled that once that time limit has expired, it cannot be reopened.
Justice James Genovese, writing for the majority in March, acknowledged the “sickening and despicable allegations” in the particular abuse case before the court, but still called the Legislature’s remedy unconstitutional. Attorney General Liz Murrill, whose office had argued for the law, asked for a rehearing, which the court granted.
This time, the vote was 5-2, according to the decision released last Wednesday. Justices Scott Crichton and Piper Griffin, who had voted with the majority the first time, reversed themselves and voted to uphold the law.
“Given Louisiana’s legitimate interest in protecting citizens who were sexually abused as minors and in providing them with the ability to seek redress in the courts,” the law should be upheld, wrote Chief Justice John Weimer, who authored the majority opinion this time.
The new decision affects hundreds of victims who have filed claims since the lookback window was opened. The Archdiocese of New Orleans, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 while facing a few dozen abuse lawsuits, now faces more than 500 claims naming more than 300 priests and deacons. Many of those cases stretch back decades. Other diocese across Louisiana face claims as well.
Genovese, writing in dissent, worried that the decision granted “unbridled authority to the legislature to enact legislation which supersedes and tramples our Constitution.” Such concerns are not without merit. When laws are unconstitutional, the courts must be unflinching in declaring them so.
However, in this case, as ongoing revelations of the massive scope of childhood sexual abuse reveal, there are even higher aims at stake.
That’s why we applaud those in the Supreme Court majority who, in this case, lived up to their official titles and ruled in the interest of justice.
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