Catherine D. Kimball
Catherine D. "Kitty" Kimball (b. 1945) was a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Her term would have expired in 2018, but Kimball retired on January 31, 2013.[1][2]
With the retirement on December 31, 2008 of former chief justice Pascal Calogero, Kimball became the justice with the most seniority on the court and on January 1, 2009, she became the Chief Justice, a position that automatically goes to the justice with the longest tenure on the court. She was the court's first female chief justice.
Education
Kimball had a stroke on January 10, 2010 and underwent post-stroke rehabilitation therapy at the Neuromedical Rehabilitation Hospital in Baton Rouge until her release on February 19, 2010. According to a statement from the Supreme Court, Kimball "continues to progress in her recovery, and will now undergo several weeks of continued post-stroke rehabilitation therapy on an out-patient basis".[3][4]
Kimball returned to the court in December 2010.[5]
Education
Kimball earned her J.D. at Louisiana State University in 1970.[6]
Career
- 1992 - 2013 Associate Justice, Louisiana Supreme Court
- 1990 - 1992 Chief Judge, 18th Distric Court, Division A
- 1982 - 1990 Judge, 18th District Court, Division A
- 1975 - 1982 Attorney
- 1973 - 1981 General Counsel, Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice
- 1971 - 1973 Special Counsel, Louisiana Attorney General's Office
- 1970 Law Clerk to Judge Nauman S. Scott, United States District Court, Western District of Louisiana[7]
Elections
2008
| Candidate | Incumbent | Seat | Party | Election votes | Election % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Catherine Kimball  |
Yes | 5th District | Democratic | 113,939 | 64.6% |
| Jeff Hughes | No | 5th District | 62,269 | 35.3% |
Awards and associations
Awards
- 2009 LSU Women’s Center Esprit de Femme Award
- 2008 Judge of the Year Award, Louisiana CASA Association
- 2007 Named one of the Top 100 in Baton Rouge by the Baton Rouge Business Report
- 2006 Distinguished Jurist Award, Louisiana Bar Foundation
- 2006 Received the Crimestoppers Special Award for Commitment to Community, Southeast Louisiana Criminal Justice Recovery Task Force
- 2006 Inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame
- 2003 Received an Ambassador for Children Award from the Louisiana CASA Association
- 2002 Louisiana CASA Association President’s Award
- 1997 Honored as one of the Top 25 Women of Achievement by the Baton Rouge Business Report
Associations
- Member, Louisiana State Bar Association
- Member, American Judicature Society
- Member, State-Federal Judicial Council
- Member, Wex Malone American Inns of Court
- Member, COSCA/NACM National Association for Court Management
- Chair, Louisiana Supreme Court Case Management Information System Task Force
- Chair, Louisiana Supreme Court Technology Committee
- Chair, Southeast Louisiana Criminal Justice Recovery Task Force
- Chair, Judicial Budgetary Control Board
- Founder, Sunshine Foundation
- Board Member, Juvenile Justice Implementation Commission
- Member, Louisiana Law Enforcement Commission
- Member, U.S. Department of Justice National Integration Resource Center Task Force
- Chair of the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Policy Board
- Member, Leadership Louisiana, Class of 1999
- Member, Louisiana Children’s Cabinet
- Member, Judicial Council
- Member, Ethics Committee, 2001
- Member, Louisiana Protective Order Registry (LPOR)
- Supreme Court Liaison to the Louisiana Legislature
- Supreme Court Liaison to District Judges’ Association[7]
Political outlook
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Kimball received a campaign finance score of 0.09, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was less conservative than the average score of 0.35 that justices received in Louisiana.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[8]
2008 election
On October 4, 2008 she won re-election to a new 10-year term on the court against challenger Jefferson Hughes.[9]
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==Noteworthy cases==|- |
On Discrimination and Equal Protection
Justice Kimball concurred in the majority opinion of the Court, which concluded that a mother who exposed her children to her lesbian relationship was not entitled to keep custody of those children.
Justice Kimball concurred in the majority opinion of the Court, which concluded a white district attorney should have recused himself from the prosecution of "The Jena 6," six African-American high school students who attacked a white student, because his past behavior indicated a bias towards vigorous prosecution of blacks, and insufficient prosecution of whites.
Justice Kimball concurred in the dissenting opinion of Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll. In doing so, he dissented from the majority opinion, written by Justice Bernette J. Johnson, which found that a prosecutor consciously and impermissibly took race into account where he, in a death penalty case with a black defendant who was convicted of first degree murder, failed to select a black juror who had filed a discrimination lawsuit against the state for "institutional discrimination." On Government Accountability
Justice Johnson dissented from the majority opinion of Justice John L. Weimer, which imposed a 30 day suspension on Justice of the Peace Myrty Alfonso for her extreme abuse of power in having a neighbor against whom she harbored ill-will arrested and incarcerated for a night without probable cause. On Personal Responsibility
Justice Kimball concurred in majority opinion of Justice Jeffrey P. Victory, which held, over the dissent of Justices Chet D. Traylor and Jeannette Theriot Knoll, that the State of Louisiana Department of Social Services was required to "make reasonable efforts to assist [a] parent in finding suitable housing before it may seek to terminate parental rights." On Taxes
Justice Kimball concurred in the majority opinion of Justice Bernette J. Johnson, which held that a Government Agency Order requiring cell phone providers to pay into a fund for setting up rural phone service was a permissible "fee" rather than an unconstitutionally impermissible "tax," even though the eventual effect of these fees would be to pass on the costs to cell phone users rather than the general public.
Justice Kimball wrote the majority opinion for the Court, which, over the strong dissenting opinion of Justice Chet D. Traylor, held that a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan (1) did not constitute a gratuitous handout, loan, or donation of public funds to a private entity where it used public funds to construct a retail development and accompanying infrastructure for Cabela's Retail Center; (2) could be funded through the issuance of municipal bonds pursuant to Louisiana's TIF statute; and (3) did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution where it handed out public funds to Cabela's, a private retailer, but not to already-existing, smaller local retailers. On Term Limits
The majority opinion of Justice Catherine D. Kimball, which, over the dissent of Bernette J. Johnson held that, under Louisiana's Term Limits law, Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution, Democrat state senator Cleo Fields was precluded from running for re-election where he had been elected to finish the term of a resigned predecessor in office, and then elected to two subsequent terms, since he had served long enough to constitute the maximum "two and one-half terms," under Louisiana's term limits laws. In reaching this conclusion, the court explicitly refused to apply a statute, passed by the legislature, intended to circumvent Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution and keep Mr. Fields in office. On Tort Reform
Over the strong dissenting opinion of Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll, the majority opinion, written by Justice Pascal Calogero, in which Justice Kimball concurred, held (1) that limitations on the legal liability of Louisiana healthcare providers, as set forth in the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act could be circumvented by an ordinary negligence cause of action; and (2) that such a cause of action was permissible where a New Orleans hospital lost power during Hurricane Katrina, resulting in the death of a patient on life support. |
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External links
- Louisiana Supreme Court Biography
- Baton Rouge Bar Association Supreme Court judicial forum.
- State of Louisiana v. Patrick Kennedy
- Kimball's campaign website
- Justice Kimball Project Vote Smart bio
- Running for Office: Louisiana Supreme Court District 5, Kimball
- Talk of the Town, September 14, 2008
- "The Louisiana Supreme Court in Question: An Empirical and Statistical Study of the Effects of Campaign Money on the Judicial Function"
- Supreme Court: 'Let us govern ourselves'
Footnotes
- ↑ The Advertiser, "Kimball to step down as Louisiaan Supreme Court Chief Justice," April 18, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ The Town Talk, "La. Supreme Court Justice Kimball of Alexandria looks forward to retirement," October 22, 2012
- ↑ The Advocate "Justice Kimball released from hospital," February 22, 2010
- ↑ WAFB "Chief justice released from hospital," February 22, 2010
- ↑ NOLA.com, "Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Kimball says she will return to court in December," July 25, 2010
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, Chief Justice Catherine D. "Kitty" Kimball (LA)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Louisiana Supreme Court, Chief Justice Catherine D. Kimball
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results 10/4/08
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana
State courts:
Louisiana Supreme Court • Louisiana Courts of Appeal • Louisiana District Courts • Louisiana City Courts • Louisiana Family Courts • Louisiana Justice of the Peace Courts • Louisiana Juvenile Courts • Louisiana Mayor’s Courts • Louisiana Municipal Courts • Louisiana Parish Courts • Louisiana Traffic Courts
State resources:
Courts in Louisiana • Louisiana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Louisiana
