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John L. Weimer
2001 - Present
2032
24
John L. Weimer (independent) is a judge for the 6th District of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2001. His current term ends on December 31, 2032.
Weimer (independent) won re-election for the 6th District judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court outright in the primary on November 8, 2022, after the primary and general election were canceled.
As the longest-serving member of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Weimer was sworn in as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court on January 7, 2021.[1]
Weimer first became a member of the Louisiana Supreme Court through a partisan election in 2001.[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] Weimer received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Weimer received his B.S. in 1976 from Nicholls State University and his J.D. from Louisiana State University in 1980. He became a faculty member at Nicholls State University, teaching law and ethics classes for 16 years. He also had a private practice in Thibodaux and worked as a mediator.[1][4]
Prior to serving on Louisiana's Supreme Court, Weimer served as a judge in District 1 of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal and as a judge in Division A of Louisiana's 17th District Court.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Louisiana Supreme Court elections, 2022
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
The primary election was canceled. John L. Weimer (Independent) won the election without appearing on the ballot.
2012
- See also: Louisiana judicial elections, 2012
Weimer ran unopposed for re-election to the Louisiana Supreme Court in 2012.[5]
2002
Weimer ran unopposed for re-election to the Louisiana Supreme Court in 2002.[5]
2001
Weimer was elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court in a special election in 2001.[5]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John L. Weimer did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
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.[6]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[7]
- 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.
John
Weimer
Louisiana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Democrat
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
Partisan Profile
Details:
Weimer was registered as a Democrat. He donated $3,243 to Democratic candidates and organizations.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Weimer received a campaign finance score of 0.65, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
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.
Weimer received a campaign finance score of 0.65, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more 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]
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
2022 Elections
External links
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Officeholder Louisiana Supreme Court 6th District |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Louisiana Supreme Court, "Chief Justice John L. Weimer Takes the Oath of Office,"January 7, 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.
- ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court, " Chief Justice John L. Weimer," accessed July 9, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Associated Press, "Louisiana Supreme Court has a new chief justice, John Weimer," January 10, 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 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
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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
