Scott Crichton
Scott Crichton (Republican Party) was a judge for the 2nd District of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2015. He left office on December 31, 2024.
Crichton became a member of the court through a partisan election, running as a Republican. He succeeded retired Justice Jeffrey Victory (R).[1] To read more about judicial selection in Louisiana, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] Crichton received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Crichton was previously a judge in the 1st Judicial District in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from 1991 to 2015. He was elected to the court in 1990 as a Democrat.[4][5]
Biography
Crichton graduated from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge in 1976 and received his J.D. from LSU Law School in 1980.[4]
Crichton was an assistant district attorney for Caddo Parish during the 1980s. He also worked as a private civil practice attorney and was an adjunct faculty member at LSU-Shreveport. He joined the 1st Judicial District court in 1991.[4]
As of July 2021, Crichton served as chair of the Louisiana Judicial College. He was also an adjunct faculty member of Tulane Law School and a teaching faculty member for the LSU Law Center Trial Advocacy Program. He was previously president of the Louisiana District Judges Association and chair of the Shreveport Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Committee.[4]
Elections
2014
- See also: Louisiana judicial elections, 2014
Crichton ran for election to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
As an unopposed candidate, he was automatically elected without appearing on the ballot.[5]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[6]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[7]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Scott
Crichton
Louisiana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Crichton was registered as a Republican as of 2020. He donated $100 to Republican candidates and organizations. At the time of his election, Louisiana was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Louisiana
- See also: Judicial selection in Louisiana
The seven justices on the Louisiana Supreme Court are selected through partisan elections. Justices are elected to 10-year terms, and must face re-election if they wish to serve again.[8]
Unlike most states, supreme court justices in Louisiana are elected to represent specific districts. The seven justices are divided evenly among seven supreme court districts (not to be confused with the 42 divisions of the district courts) and are voted into office by the residents of their respective regions.[9] Only the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and Mississippi use a similar system.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least ten years;
- a resident of the district representing for at least one year;
- under the age of 70 at the time of election (judges who turn 70 in office may serve until their term expires)[8][10]
Chief justice
The chief justice is the justice on the court with the most seniority. When he or she retires, the justice with the next most seniority becomes chief justice.[8]
Vacancies
Per Article V of the Louisiana Constitution, midterm vacancies are to be temporarily filled by the remaining members of the supreme court. Within one year of the opening, a special election (called by the governor, preferably on the date of a preexisting gubernatorial or congressional election) is to be held. If the supreme court has appointed a successor, that appointee may not run for the seat in the special election.[8][11] The justice elected at the special election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term.[12][13]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Nola.com, "Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Victory will not seek re-election," August 3, 2013
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Louisiana Supreme Court, "ASSOCIATE JUSTICE SCOTT J. CRICHTON," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Louisiana Secretary of State, "11/04/2014 - Associate Justice Supreme Court, 2nd Supreme Court District," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Louisiana; Selection of Judges," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court, "Maps of Judicial Districts," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ NOLA.com, "Lawmakers fail to pass amendment eliminating mandatory retirement age of judges," archived March 9, 2016
- ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court, "Henry Julien v. The Honorable W. Fox McKeithan," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Louisiana Revised Statutes "RS 13:101.1," accessed July 13, 2016
- ↑ Leagle, "Marcelle v. DeCuir," September 21, 1995
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Louisiana Supreme Court 2nd District 2015-2024 |
Succeeded by John Guidry (D) |
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana
State courts:
Louisiana Supreme Court • Louisiana Courts of Appeal • Louisiana District Courts • Louisiana City Courts • Louisiana Family Courts • Louisiana Justice of the Peace Courts • Louisiana Juvenile Courts • Louisiana Mayor’s Courts • Louisiana Municipal Courts • Louisiana Parish Courts • Louisiana Traffic Courts
State resources:
Courts in Louisiana • Louisiana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Louisiana
