The Louisiana Judiciary Commission is calling for the removal of a Baton Rouge City Court judge because she turned 70 -- the state’s judicial retirement age -- prior to her election last year.
Johnell Matthews’ electoral win came during an Aug. 15, 2020, vote, which was delayed three months due to rising concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. During that delay, Matthews turned 70, giving her critics some ammunition to question her qualifications even though Matthews handily defeated her opponent, Republican Whitney Higgenbotham Greene, by a margin of 63.3% to 36.7%.
Matthews’ attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, said that a pair of lawsuits over her qualifications followed, but courts up through the state Supreme Court sided with Matthews.
In October of last year, however, the judiciary panel voted 8-1 to urge the high court to bar her from office because she had reached the mandatory retirement age before being sworn in. A hearing before the Supreme Court over the issue has been scheduled for Oct. 20.
Pierson told the Louisiana Record that numerous delays and work-arounds have been granted by the state’s judicial system during the COVID-19 emergency, including the decision to allow 500 law school graduates to practice law without having to pass the Louisiana Bar Exam.
“Our main point is how come everybody else gets an exception and not us?” Pierson said. “... I think it is patently unfair for her to be singled out for treatment (in a situation) she had no control over.”
Matthews was elected during a special election to an unfilled term that ends on Dec. 31, 2024. If she is removed from office, another special election would need to be scheduled and ad-hoc judges scheduled to work during her absence, Pierson said.
In addition, the state constitutional requirement that judges retire once they reach age 70 would not cover Matthews, who was not a judge when she was elected, she said. And judges who do turn 70 are allowed to serve out the remainder of their current terms in office.
Prior to the judiciary panel’s vote on the Matthews case, the panel’s hearing officer sided with the judge’s position. The judicial panel agrees that she has an otherwise unblemished record as an attorney, according to Pierson