New Orleans, La. -- An attorney for State Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson says, if the other justices do not back down, then the governor should step in to end the rift on the court.
Justice Johnson says she should be the court's next chief justice, and she is fighting her colleagues in federal court for the post.
"I would certainly hope that they would abandon their effort because it's making Louisiana look bad," said attorney James Williams, representing Justice Johnson in the matter.
Johnson's lawsuit seeks to block her colleagues on the high court from taking a vote on whether she or Justice Jeffrey Victory should succeed Chief Justice Kitty Kimball next year.
"Since I've been on the Louisiana Supreme Court, I have been a full fledged Supreme Court Justice. I have written opinions, I've sat in on oral arguments," Johnson told a legislative committee delving into the controversy.
It is a schism on the court that is attracting national attention. The New York Times penned an editorial with the headline, "Bayou Blues." The editorial sides with Justice Johnson.
Williams said Monday that Governor Bobby Jindal should step in for the good of the state.
"Although they are separate branches of government, because the governor is a party in this case, the governor has the ability to help us stop this and heal the judiciary and heal our state," Williams stated.
The governor doesn't appear to share that view. In a one-sentence email to FOX 8 News Monday, Jindal's office said, "It's an issue for the court to decide."
On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department sided with Johnson in a memorandum filed in federal court in New Orleans.
"This sort of validates what we've been saying all along. This is an American issue and the United States of America is behind us," Williams continued.
Kevin Tully, the attorney representing the other justices in the case told FOX 8 News that he had not been authorized to speak to the news media about the case.
FOX 8 legal analyst Joe Raspanti says it is a thorny issue.
"I don't know about the image, but these folks have to work together every day so I guess it will be interesting going forward," Raspanti said.
The fight is over when Johnson actually became a justice on the state's highest court. A 1992 court settlement created an 8th Supreme Court district, centered in New Orleans, under a consent decree stemming from the "Chisom" case. Johnson initially was assigned to that 8th district seat as an appellate judge. She occupied the eighth seat on the high court until the court went back to seven districts in 2000, and she was again elected.
According to Justice Victory, that means that Johnson's tenure as a Supreme Court justice really did not begin until 2000. Victory was elected to the court in 1995.
"It's about what are the indices of "justice-ness," to make up a verb. And it looks like she got paid as a justice, she sat and did the work of a justice. When Justice Kimball got ill she took over for her," said Raspanti.
Johnson's attorney says the state constitution and Act 776 bolster their case.
"I think that the smart money would be on Bernette Johnson," said Raspanti.
Justice Bernette Johnson at legislative hearing at City Hall last week.
