Jefferson Hughes
2013 - Present
2028
12
Jefferson Hughes (Republican Party) is a judge for the 5th District of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He assumed office on February 1, 2013. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Hughes (Republican Party) won re-election for the 5th District judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court outright in the primary on November 6, 2018, after the general election was canceled.
Hughes was first elected to the court in 2012 to finish the unexpired term of Catherine Kimball (D) after her retirement.[1] To read more about judicial selection in Louisiana, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] Hughes received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Hughes was a judge in the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal from 2005 to 2012.
Biography
Hughes received an undergraduate degree in history from Louisiana State University and his J.D. from Louisiana State University Law School, where he was published in the Louisiana Law Review.[4]
Hughes clerked for Judge Frank Polozola and was an attorney in private practice before becoming a judge. He was elected to the 21st Judicial District in 1990 and to the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal in 2004.[4]
Elections
2018
- See also: Louisiana Supreme Court elections, 2018
Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 5th District
Incumbent Jefferson Hughes won election outright in the primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 5th District on November 6, 2018.
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| ✔ |  | Jefferson Hughes (R) |
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2012
- See also: Louisiana judicial elections, 2012
Hughes was elected to the seat of retiring Chief Justice Catherine Kimball on the Louisiana Supreme Court. He defeated John Guidry in the December 8, 2012 runoff with 52.8% of the vote. Hughes previously received 21.2% of the vote in the eight-way general election on November 6, 2012.[5][6]
2008
Hughes challenged Democrat Catherine Kimball in the 2008 Louisiana Supreme Court elections for the Fifth District Seat on the seven-member Louisiana Supreme Court.
| Candidate | Incumbent | Seat | Party | Election % |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Catherine Kimball  |
Yes | 5th District | Democratic | 64.6% | |
| Jeff Hughes | No | 5th District | 35.3% |
Election results are from the Louisiana Secretary of State from October 4, 2008.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Jefferson
Hughes
Louisiana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican
- Donated under $2,000 to Republican candidates
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Hughes was registered as a Republican. He donated $1,500 to Republican candidates. At the time of his election, Louisiana was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Louisiana
- See also: Judicial selection in Louisiana
The seven justices on the Louisiana Supreme Court are selected through partisan elections. Justices are elected to 10-year terms, and must face re-election if they wish to serve again.[9]
Unlike most states, supreme court justices in Louisiana are elected to represent specific districts. The seven justices are divided evenly among seven supreme court districts (not to be confused with the 42 divisions of the district courts) and are voted into office by the residents of their respective regions.[10] Only the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and Mississippi use a similar system.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least ten years;
- a resident of the district representing for at least one year;
- under the age of 70 at the time of election (judges who turn 70 in office may serve until their term expires)[9][11]
Chief justice
The chief justice is the justice on the court with the most seniority. When he or she retires, the justice with the next most seniority becomes chief justice.[9]
Vacancies
Per Article V of the Louisiana Constitution, midterm vacancies are to be temporarily filled by the remaining members of the supreme court. Within one year of the opening, a special election (called by the governor, preferably on the date of a preexisting gubernatorial or congressional election) is to be held. If the supreme court has appointed a successor, that appointee may not run for the seat in the special election.[9][12] The justice elected at the special election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term.[13][14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
|
Officeholder Louisiana Supreme Court 5th District |
Footnotes
- ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court, "HomePress RoomChief Justice Catherine D. 'Kitty' Kimball retired today after 20 years of service on the Louisiana Supreme Court bench," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Louisiana Supreme Court, "ASSOCIATE JUSTICE JEFFERSON D. HUGHES III," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results for 12/8/2012," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results 11/6/2012," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Louisiana; Selection of Judges," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court, "Maps of Judicial Districts," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ NOLA.com, "Lawmakers fail to pass amendment eliminating mandatory retirement age of judges," archived March 9, 2016
- ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court, "Henry Julien v. The Honorable W. Fox McKeithan," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Louisiana Revised Statutes "RS 13:101.1," accessed July 13, 2016
- ↑ Leagle, "Marcelle v. DeCuir," September 21, 1995
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
