All 12 Orleans criminal court justices are up for reelection in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with two facing challengers who were — until this past legislative session — their colleagues.
But come January 1, 2027, there will be three fewer judges on the bench.
This follows a law that went into effect in June, cutting three judgeships from the Orleans criminal court bench. The law was part of a legislative package to cut what supporters called “waste” in the Orleans Parish court system, the only parish with separate civil and criminal courts.
Originally, the bill called for cutting the three judges with the least seniority. While they weren’t named in the bill, they are Section A Judge Simone Levine, Section J Judge John Fuller and Section I Judge Leon Roché. Two days before the session ended, however, a conference committee swapped Roché for District E Judge Rhonda Goode-Douglass, and also named District Judges A, E and J specifically.
Committee members did not say why they made the swap; Morris credited the governor’s office and the Orleans delegation. The bill was presented on the final day of the session and passed the House, 62-34. The governor signed it into law later that summer.
Levine is running against incumbent judge Kimya Holmes for the Section D seat. Goode-Douglass challenged Roché for the Section I seat. In a social media post, Roché said he wouldn’t “take the bait” of running against another Black judge and instead opted to run against incumbent judge Camille Buras for the Section H seat. Fuller announced in a social media post that he would not seek reelection after the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the law shrinking the court system in July.
The other seven incumbents won reelection in the primary.
A recent report from New Orleans crime watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission found Orleans Parish criminal court judges will have to improve their efficiency after the midterms, when state legislation removing three of its judgeships goes into effect.
Over the last two years, the 12 criminal court judges kept pace with their current caseloads, while also reducing their backlogs, the report found. The share of open cases also declined from the previous report, while the median time to clear cases stayed at 7 months.
But nearly a third of criminal district court felony cases opened in 2024 had been pending for more than a year. The American Bar Association’s best practice standards call for cases to be heard within a year.
“The only way for the judges to improve upon their existing accomplishments is for each and every judge to be more effective and efficient in the way they manage their dockets. … [T]here remains room for improvement, which will be a greater challenge entering 2027 when the court downsizes from twelve to nine judges,” the report reads.
This comes as Orleans criminal court judges are being asked to hear more cases as a byproduct of better police investigations.
