Justice Bernette Johnson

Judge Bernette Johnson will be the first black Chief Justice of the Louisiana State Court. Johnson was first voted into the Louisiana State Appeals Court in 1994.

Judge Bernette Johnson will be the first black Chief Justice of the Louisiana State Court. Johnson was first voted into the Louisiana State Appeals Court in 1994. Her appointment was during a discrimination lawsuit settlement regarding the election system of judges. The system then apparently violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Civil rights activists, […]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana Supreme Court resolved a racially-tinged power struggle inside its own ranks, ruling Tuesday that Bernette Johnson should be the state's first black chief justice. Johnson's years of appointed and elected service on the high court give her the seniority to succeed Chief Justice Catherine "Kitty" Kimball early next year, […]