William J. Crain
2019 - Present
2028
5
William J. Crain (Republican Party) is a judge for the 1st District of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He assumed office on December 11, 2019. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Crain (Republican Party) ran in a special election for the 1st District judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He won in the special general election on November 16, 2019.
Crain became a member of the court through a partisan election and succeeded Justice Greg Guidry, who had been appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.[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] Crain received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Crain was a judge of the First Circuit Court of Appeal in Louisiana from 2013 to 2019.
Biography
Crain received an undergraduate degree in accounting from Louisiana State University in 1983 and graduated from the Louisiana State University Law Center in 1986.[4]
Crain worked for 22 years at a private practice law firm before being elected to the 22nd Judicial District Court in 2008.[5] He remained with the district court until 2012, when he was elected to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. Crain previously served as president of the Louisiana Judicial College's Board of Governors.[4]
Elections
2019
See also: Louisiana Supreme Court special elections, 2019
Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
General election
Special general election for Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District
William J. Crain defeated Hans J. Liljeberg in the special general election for Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District on November 16, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | William J. Crain (R) | 57.3 | 127,211 | |
| Hans J. Liljeberg (R) | 42.7 | 94,875 | ||
| Total votes: 222,086 (100.00% precincts reporting) | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Special nonpartisan primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District
William J. Crain and Hans J. Liljeberg defeated Scott Schlegel and Richard Ducote in the special primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District on October 12, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | William J. Crain (R) | 38.6 | 73,534 | |
| ✔ | Hans J. Liljeberg (R) | 32.5 | 61,859 | |
| Scott Schlegel (R) | 17.5 | 33,242 | ||
| Richard Ducote (R) | 11.5 | 21,810 | ||
| Total votes: 190,445 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2012
- See also: Louisiana judicial elections, 2012
Crain was elected to the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal without opposition in 2012.[6]
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
William J. Crain did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
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.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- 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.
William
Crain
Louisiana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican
- Donated under $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Crain was registered as a Republican. He donated $500 to Republican candidates. Crain received donations from organizations that regularly donate to Republican candidates, including Koch Industries. He was endorsed by individuals and organizations that regularly endorse Republicans, including the Republican State Leadership Committee.
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.[9]
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.[10] 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)[9][11]
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.[9]
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.[9][12] The justice elected at the special election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term.[13][14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Officeholder Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District |
Footnotes
- ↑ Federal Judicial Center, "Guidry, Greg Gerard," accessed June 24, 2019
- ↑ 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 Louisiana Supreme Court, "ASSOCIATE JUSTICE WILLIAM J. CRAIN," accessed August 3, 2021
- ↑ Nola.com, "Judge William J. Crain running for 1st Circuit Court of Appeal," June 30, 2012
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "11/06/2012 - Judge, Court of Appeal 1st Circuit, 3rd Dist., Division D," accessed August 2, 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.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 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
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
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