Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission v. Olivier

hCALOGERO, Chief Justice.

This case presents the issue of whether Louisiana law permits a judge to refuse to perform a statutory duty that is ministerial in nature, presumably in order to precipitate a mandamus action in which the judge will have the opportunity to argue that the statute is not constitutional. We hold that a judicial officer, like any other public officer, lacks standing to raise the constitutionality of a statute as a defense in a mandamus action seeking to compel the performance of duties that are mandated by statute and ministerial in nature. Thus, defendants here were…