Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on Wednesday warned Mayor Helena Moreno and other top New Orleans elected officials that she would seek their removal from office if they do not "officially retract" support for a dramatic escalation in a raging dispute over that role.
In a letter to Moreno, District Attorney Jason Williams and five City Council members, Murrill said the officials were at risk of violating several state laws after a council vote this week to trigger an election for the newly merged clerk’s office and appoint an interim clerk.
Murrill’s warning drew a sharp response from Moreno, who said she wouldn’t be “intimidated” from pursuing the legal fight over who should oversee the parish clerk’s office. Murrill accused the officials of “usurping” the authority of Chelsey Napoleon, who Murrill argues is the city’s lawful clerk.
Under legislation enacted by Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature this month, Napoleon, who won re-election last year as Orleans Parish Clerk of Civil Court, took over the duties of the criminal clerk’s office, which had been a separate elected office.
Moreno, Williams and a majority of the council contend that the law created a new position that must be filled by the voters. Multiple lawsuits challenging the law are pending.
Calvin Johnson, the former criminal district court judge who was appointed as interim clerk by the council’s Monday vote, also received a copy of Murrill’s letter. She warned that Johnson could face “imprisonment” even as she said he “appears to be an innocent bystander” to the dispute.
"To avoid further litigation and the statutory consequences," Murrill wrote, "you should officially retract your support for this usurpation of (Civil Clerk) Chelsey Richard Napoleon’s office and take no further action supporting or recognizing the fictional new office or Judge Johnson’s appointment to it."
Murrill said Gov. Jeff Landry would appoint replacements if the local officials are removed.
The threats from the Republican attorney general to some of New Orleans’ most prominent Democratic local leaders sharply intensified the legal and political battle over two relatively parochial city positions, which began after the Legislature enacted its sweeping changes to the clerks’ offices earlier this month.
It also added to the general sense of confusion about who was currently running an office that in addition to overseeing court records, is charged with holding elections in the parish. The U.S. Senate primary as well as a host of other state and local elections are set to take place on Saturday.
Moreno responded to Murrill’s letter in a video posted Wednesday on social media, suggesting that Murrill could be violating a state law concerning threats to elected leaders.
“It is surprising that the attorney general put all of this in a letter, considering there is also a criminal law that prohibits intimidating or threatening a public official in an effort to try to influence their decision or change their position,” Moreno said. “Bottom line: I’m not going to be threatened, I’m not going to be intimidated, and I won’t back down.”
The letter contained “a variety of ethical and professional conduct issues,” Moreno said. She urged Murrill to let litigation over the new law run its course rather than resorting to “threats.”
In a prepared statement, Williams, the district attorney, called Murrill’s letter “deeply disappointing, profoundly troubling and legally incorrect.”
“The statute now being invoked is a relic of the Reconstruction era, born out of one of the most turbulent and divisive periods in Louisiana history, when rival governments, disputed officeholders, and political violence threatened the stability of civil authority itself,” Williams said. “For such language and authority to now be directed at elected officials in New Orleans who are carrying out their legal and constitutional responsibilities is deeply concerning.”
Calvin Duncan was elected as New Orleans criminal court clerk but his position was swiftly eliminated by Gov. Jeff Landry and GOP lawmakers.
Photo by Chris Granger / The Times-Picayune
Swirling debate
The debate that escalated on Wednesday was touched off earlier this month after the Legislature passed its law eliminating New Orleans’ clerk of criminal court. The law, known as Act 15, turned the criminal clerk’s duties over to the separate civil clerk’s office.
Supporters cast the legislation as a needed reform to the only parish in Louisiana with distinct court systems for criminal and civil matters.
But New Orleans leaders have criticized the move as an unnecessary incursion by the state. Many say the legislation appears to be retaliation against Calvin Duncan, a formerly incarcerated prison counsel who was released after a judge ruled him innocent of a 1981 murder. Duncan won the criminal clerkship last fall with 68% of the vote despite opposition from Murrill and other conservatives.
Only after Duncan’s victory did the Legislature move to eliminate the job he had won. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law on April 30, four days before Duncan was set to take office.
A tangle of litigation is unfolding in multiple courts as Murrill wages her battle with New Orleans officials.
Napoleon filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in Baton Rouge challenging Johnson’s interim appointment and the City Council resolution calling for a special election. On Wednesday, Judge Tarvald Smith of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge denied her request for a temporary restraining order and set a hearing for Monday.
After filing a separate challenge in federal court, records show Duncan has retained two high-powered attorneys, Pratik Shah and Margaret Rusconi from the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld firm, to argue a challenge to the new state law.
In the meantime, the dispute has raised questions about who is managing the clerk’s duties. Whether Napoleon was present Wednesday in Civil District Court was unclear. A visit by a reporter to her office in the downtown courthouse offered no clarity.
“I don’t have that information to give you,” repeated a woman who identified herself only as Napoleon’s assistant.
One judge said court staff were unaware who was running the clerk’s office Wednesday.
“It’s a real distraction in our work,” the judge said of the uncertainty. “A distraction in legal matters only hurts you, your litigants and citizens.”
Geri Broussard, Napoleon’s attorney, insisted that Napoleon remained in charge of the clerk’s office even after the council resolutions and after Johnson prepared a declaration naming her to handle the office on Monday.
That doesn’t mean that Napoleon is conceding the council’s authority, Broussard said.
“Judge Johnson has been cooperative,” Broussard said. “I recognize it as being a compromise of two individuals hellbent on maintaining the smooth operation of this office until it can be decided by a court of law.”
Mayor Helena Moreno holds a press conference about the settlement between city council and school board, at City Hall in New Orleans, Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
‘Everybody’s overreacting’
Dane Ciolino, an ethics expert, attorney and law professor at Loyola University, said Murrill’s letter to the local officials entered “uncharted territory.”
“It seems like everybody’s overreacting here,” Ciolino said. “You don’t see a lot of instances where those statutes have ever been used. The simple answer for this is for everyone to wait until the Louisiana Supreme Court resolves the issue.”
While Ciolino said there was “no need” for Murrill to “threaten” local officials, he questioned whether the City Council needed to call a special election for the position before the courts have weighed in.
Moreno and Williams called for the last week, arguing that transferring one clerk’s duties to another created a new position that must be filled by voters. Murrill, Landry and Napoleon pushed back, arguing that the Legislature had merely mashed the offices together without creating a new position.
The City Council members who received Murrill’s letter are Council President JP Morrell, Council Vice President Matthew Willard, District A Councilmember Aimee McCarron, District C Councilmember Freddie King and District E Councilmember Jason Hughes. Council members Lesli Harris and Eugene Green, who voted against calling the election, did not receive copies.
“We will not be intimidated, and these council members will always stand for what’s right,” King said in a video response Wednesday, appearing with the four other members who received the letter.
Asked why Murrill has taken such a keen interest in the mechanics of New Orleans’ clerk of court, her spokesperson, Lester Duhe, said Wednesday that as the state’s chief legal officer, she is “ensuring (local officials) follow the law.” Murrill had asked the city officials to allow the Supreme Court to weigh in before calling the special election, Duhe said.
“She is very serious about this obviously,” he said.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Secretary of State’s confirmed that the office received a petition to recall Murrill from office. Such an effort faces a high bar: More than 20% of Louisiana’s statewide electorate — about 500,000 voters — would have to sign it before November 9, 2026 for the recall to head to voters, the Secretary of State’s spokesperson said.
Murrill's office released a statement Wednesday night, saying, "When you finally hold criminals and corrupt elected officials accountable, people get uncomfortable.”
Staff writers Matt Bruce and John Simerman contributed to this report.