Ballotpedia now includes vacancies filled by special elections in our state supreme court vacancy coverage. In 2024, there has been one retirement from a state supreme court, resulting in a vacancy that will be filled by a special election occurring in 2025.
Louisiana:
On August 4, 2024, Louisiana Supreme Court Justice James Genovese (R) stepped down as an associate justice, two years before his term was originally scheduled to end. Genovese announced that he was taking the position of president of Northwestern State University following his retirement from the state supreme court.
Genovese was first elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court 3rd District in 2016. Genovese ran against Marilyn Castle, a 15th Judicial District judge who served from 1999 to 2023. Both candidates were registered Republicans. Genovese won the seat with 51% of the vote. The election was for an open seat held by Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll (D), who served on the state supreme court from 1997 until her term ended in 2016.
Louisiana is one of nine state courts of last resort that have geographically specific districts from which judges need to reside. Of the 52 state courts of last resort, eight states have district-specific seats, including Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, both Oklahoma courts (the Criminal Court of Appeals and the state supreme court), South Dakota, and Tennessee (when originally appointed, although subsequent elections are statewide). Louisiana’s Third Supreme Court District includes eight parishes (analogous to counties in other states) in the southwesternmost part of the state. To see a map of Louisiana’s judicial districts, click here.
Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court are elected to 10-year terms, meaning Genovese has not appeared on the ballot since his 2016 victory. His successor will be chosen by voters in a special partisan election in spring 2025. As of December 12, 2024, no candidates have applied to fill the vacancy. To see Ballotpedia’s coverage of this vacancy, click here.
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