BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled to disqualify a candidate due to a failure to file state income taxes in three of the last five years, overturning a previous decision in July.

The ruling declared Marcus Hunter ineligible to run for the office for District 2's Associate Justice of Louisiana Supreme Court. Hunter and Louisiana Housing Corporation Chief of Staff Leslie Richard Chambers were previously allowed to continue running for a judgeship for the 2nd District, which was recently redrawn, making it the state's second Black-majority district.

The initial lawsuit, filed by a 73-year-old Baton Rouge woman named Elise Knowles Collins, said that Chambers lives outside the judicial district and Hunter failed to file state income taxes in three of the last five years, a requirement to run for the post under state law.

Chief Justice John Weimer, in his concurring reasons said that he "would much prefer seeing multiple candidates participate in the electoral process to facilitate the voters having a choice in deciding who should serve them, [he] cannot ignore the clear facts or the applicable law which is equally clear... Clearly, the candidate in question did not file his income tax returns timely."

Chambers was ruled ineligible August 8 by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal. 1st Circuit Chief Judge John Michael Guidry is the last remaining eligible person in the race.

Collins' attorneys released the following statement about the decision:

"The legal objections raised by Ms. Collins have been examined by intensive judicial review through the district court and appellate court process, including careful review by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The judicial review exercised here provided all sides with a full and fair opportunity to be heard and to present the relevant evidence raised by the objections. The outcome of evidence-based judicial review establishes that Ms. Chambers and Judge Hunter were not legally qualified to seek placement on the ballot when they filed their respective notices of candidacy with the Secretary of State in mid-July. The result here was compelled by faithfully applying the law to the evidence presented at a seven-hour evidentiary hearing."