William J. Guste - Role As Attorney General

Role As Attorney General

Guste was an active attorney general in many areas. Governor Edwards named him to the Governor's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice in 1974. In 1983, President Ronald W. Reagan named Guste, despite their partisan difference, to the President's Commission on Organized Crime.

Guste was often involved in litigation referring to Louisiana's shrinking coastline, or wetlands. In such cases, he often took the environmentalist position, with the view that once such wetlands are lost, they cannot be reclaimed. Property rights advocates, however, often quarreled with Guste by taking the view that he defined "wetlands" too broadly.

Guste defended Tulane University in New Orleans in one of his advisory opinions, which have the force of law, unless the legislature rules otherwise. He said that the institution was tax-exempt under a law, and that the exemption applied to sales and use taxes too, unless the legislature stipulated otherwise.

In 1984, Guste announced that his office would no longer enforce blue laws after a federal judge, Charles Schwartz of New Orleans, ruled that three particular department stores could open on Sundays. Guste said that it would be unfair to give some businesses an advantage over thier competitors by allowing on those given court permission to opend on Sunday.

In 1986, Guste urged Governor Edwin Edwards to call a special session of the legislature to raise the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one so that the state could qualify for $13 million to $30 million in state highway aid which would otherwise be forfeited. Earlier in the regular legislative session, the state House by a two-vote margin had refused to raise the drinking age; forty-eight states at the time raised the drinking age to keep their highway funds on target.

Guste is a former president of the National Association of Attorneys General, based in Washington, D.C.