St. Tammany Parish Coroner Dr. Christopher Tape has filed suit against the State of Louisiana and the St. Tammany Parish Government, asking that the court declare a recently signed law unconstitutional.
On June 10, Gov. Jeff Landry signed SB452, enrolled as Act 526, transferring control of the Coroner’s Office tax revenue and assets to the St. Tammany Parish Government and placing new requirements for candidates who qualify to run for coroner – but only in St. Tammany Parish.
In the suit, Tape makes the claim that Act 526 is a violation of the state Constitution as it takes authority from a Judicial Branch officer and gives it to an Executive Branch authority, thus violating separation of powers. He said the Act was also unlawful because it applies only to the office of Coroner, and only in St. Tammany Parish. Additionally, the lawsuit claims the statute sets forth new requirements for a candidate to run for coroner, including that he or she be of good moral and ethical character and temperate habits. Those terms and phrases have no legal definition and are therefore invalid, the lawsuit states.
Tape has been maligned in the media because of a 23-year-old criminal allegation that was dismissed with prejudice. He said to suggest that a long-ago, dismissed allegation is suggestive of poor character is as ridiculous as suggesting that someone with arrests for DWI or illegal drug possession is unfit to be a state senator or parish president.
