Jeannette Theriot Knoll
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Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll is a justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court. She first took office in 1997 after winning a 1996 election, and was subsequently re-elected in 2006 to a new term that expires in 2016. In her 2006 bid for re-election she was unopposed.
Jeannette Theriot Knoll, one of ten children, was born in Baton Rouge and immediately took up residence in Gueydan, Louisiana. Justice Knoll subsequently graduated from St. James Major High School in New Orleans.[1] She and her husband, Eddie, have five sons, Triston, Eddie Jr., Sonny, Blake and Jonathan. Two of those sons, Triston and Eddie Jr., practice with their father at Knoll Law Firm.[2]
The winner of a Metropolitan Opera Association and New Orleans Opera Guild Scholarship at the age of 18 to study voice under the direction of Maestro Adler of the Metropolitan Opera Company and at Mannes College of Music, she studied in New York, she attended Loyola University Music School on a voice scholarship and was a guest soloist with the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony and the New Orleans Summer Pops.
Marital Associations
Jeannette Theriot Knoll married Jerold Edward "Eddie" Knoll in 1967 after meeting at Loyola School of Law, New Orleans.[3] After Jeannette graduated in 1969, the couple partnered to create the law office of "Knoll & Knoll." From 1972 through 2002, Eddie Knoll served as Avoyelles Parish’s 32nd District Attorney. When elected, he was the youngest District Attorney in the State of Louisiana.
From 1973 to 1982, in the days before Louisiana’s nepotism laws, Jeannette served as Eddie’s First Assistant District Attorney.
Legal education and experience
Justice Knoll received a B.A. degree, in 1966, in political science with a minor in history from Loyola University and her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1969. She received a Master of Laws degree in the judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1996.
Justice Knoll took office on the Louisiana Supreme Court on January 1, 1997. Prior to her election to the Supreme Court from the Third Supreme Court District, Justice Knoll served as a judge of the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit. She was elected to the third Circuit in 1982 and was reelected in 1993.
From 1972 to 1982, she served as first assistant district attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District Court, Avoyelles Parish and at one time served as a criminal defense attorney for indigents in Avoyelles Parish. She also served as gratuitous attorney and advisor for the United States Selective Service, Local Board No. 5, Marksville, Louisiana.
In 1982, Jeannette Knoll made her first run for public office, and was elected to the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal, an office she maintained until 1996. That particular victory rewrote Louisiana history books as Jeannette became the first woman ever elected to a Louisiana appellate court judgeship.[4]
Community Involvement and Awards
Justice Knoll is an instructor for the Louisiana Judicial College and served as chair of Continuing Legal Education for Louisiana Court of Appeal Judges. She is past president of the Business and Professional Women's Club. In 1995 and 2002, she received the Outstanding Judicial Award from the Victims and Citizens Against Crime, Inc. In 2000, she was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame and named the Louisiana Crimefighters' Outstanding Jurist of the Year. She is director of the Arts and Humanities Council of Avoyelles, Inc. and is a former chair of the March of Dimes.
Memberships and Associations
Justice Knoll is a member of the visiting committees of Loyola University School of Law and of Loyola Music School; of LSUA Criminal Justice Advisory Committee; Loyola University Alumni Association Board of Directors (College of Arts and Sciences); American Legion Auxiliary - Prevost Johnson #130; Louisiana Cattleman's Association; and, Marksville Chamber of Commerce. She is a former member of the State Board of Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice; Marksville Chamber of Commerce. She is a former member of the State Board of Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice; Marksville Jaycee Jaynes; Phi Phi Phi, social sorority; and, the conflicts committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute.
Justice Knoll is married to Jerold Edward Knoll, district attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District, Avoyelles Parish.
Political affiliation
Democrat.
Jeannette Theriot Knoll contributed $125,000, or 44.52% of the total contributions, to his own campaign. Her own contribution was the highest amount of the top twenty contributors to the campaign.[5] In the economic interest breakdown, the top three contributers were:
- Lawyers and Lobbyists, contributing $169,600 (60.41%), General Business, contributing $26,225 (9.34%), and Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, $17,577 (6.26%)
From that, the breakdown is as follows:
- Construction, $11,109 (3.96%)
- Health, $7,725 (2.75%)
- Energy and Natural Resources, $6,500 (2.32%)
- Transportation, $5,100 (1.82%)
- Labor, $1,000 (0.36%)
- Other/Retiree/Civil Servants, $200 (0.07%)
- Ideology/Single Issue, $50 (0.02%)
In the News: Articles
Federal Funding for Katrina and Concerns of Corruption in Louisiana (July 17, 2007)
When folks from outside of the state visit the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame, they're often befuddled that there would even be such an elaborate shrine for elected officials, consultants and other power brokers in a state known for its corrupt politics. Longtime museum director Carolyn R. Phillips says she explains that politics are "different down here."[6] A handful of state and federal investigations, particularly the indictment of Congressman William Jefferson, continue to paint Louisiana as a political backwater, if not a cesspool of corruption, cronyism and incompetence.
Meanwhile, as Louisiana continues to beg the federal government for more money to support recovery efforts, the Beltway is paying close attention to the state's circus-like political atmosphere, says Brent Littlefield, a D.C.-based Republican strategist with Political Solutions. Littlefield, who is often interviewed on Fox News, cites a longstanding concern in Washington about corruption in Louisiana - and he notes that the Jefferson indictment has only made matters worse. Jefferson's case alone might doom Louisiana's fiscal prospects in Congress, but the other pending matters won't help, either. "That is why there has been great concern, although expressed quietly, over monies sent to Louisiana for the recovery," Littlefield says. "Similar concerns do not seem to exist for other states, like Mississippi, that have received recovery monies for disasters."
In 2000, Judge Jeannette Theriot Knoll was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame.
On the issues
On Discrimination and Equal Protection
2007
- Justice Victory concurred in the majority opinion of the Court, which concluded that a mother who exposed her children to her lesbian relationship was not entitled to keep custody of those children.
- Justice Victory concurred in the majority opinion of the Court, which concluded a white district attorney should have recused himself from the prosecution of "The Jana 6," six African-American highschool students who attacked a white student, because his past behavior indicated a bias towards vigorous prosecution of blacks, and insufficient prosecution of whites.
- Justice Knoll wrote the dissenting opinion of Justice. In doing so, she dissented from the majority opinion, written by Justice Bernette J. Johnson, which found that a prosecutor consciously and impermissibly took race into account where he, in a death penalty case with a black defendant who was convicted of first degree murder, failed to select a black juror who had filed a discrimination lawsuit against the state for "institutional discrimination."
On Government Accountability
2007
- Justice Knoll concurred in majority opinion of Justice John L. Weimer, which imposed a 30 day suspension on Justice of the Peace Myrty Alfonso for her extreme abuse of power in having a neighbor against whom she harbored ill-will arrested and incarcerated for a night without probable cause.
On Personal Responsibility
2006
- Justice Jeffrey P. Victory wrote the majority opinion for the court, which held, over the dissent of Justices Chet D. Traylor and Jeannette Theriot Knoll, that the State of Louisiana Department of Social Services was required to "make reasonable efforts to assist [a] parent in finding suitable housing before it may seek to terminate parental rights."
2006
On Taxes
- Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll concurred in the majority opinion of Justice Bernette J. Johnson, which held that a Government Agency Order requiring cell phone providers to pay into a fund for setting up rural phone service was a permissible "fee" rather than an unconstitutionally impermissible "tax," even though the eventual effect of these fees would be to pass on the costs to cell phone users rather than the general public.
On Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
2006
- Justice Knoll dissented from the majority opinion, written by Justice Catherine D. Kimball, which, over the strong dissenting opinion of Justice Chet D. Traylor and Justice Knoll, held that a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan (1) did not constitute a gratuitous handout, loan, or donation of public funds to a private entity where it used public funds to construct a retail development and accompanying infrastructure for Cabela's Retail Center; (2) could be funded through the issuance of municipal bonds pursuant to Louisiana's TIF statute; and (3) did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution where it handed out public funds to Cabela's, a private retailer, but not to already-existing, smaller local retailers.
- Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll, wrote the majority opinion, which held that (1) the government did not violate the due process rights, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, of local citizens by notifying them of a $50 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan for Bass Pro Shops only by mail, rather than by personal service, even though they were, as a group, easily identifiable; and (2)
On Term Limits
2007
- Justice Knoll concurred in the majority opinion of Justice Catherine D. Kimball, which, over the dissent of Bernette J. Johnson held that, under Louisiana's Term Limits law, Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution, Democrat state senator Cleo Fields was precluded from running for re-election where he had been elected to finish the term of a resigned predecessor in office, and then elected to two subsequent terms, since he had served long enough to constitute the maximum "two and one-half terms," under Louisiana's term limits laws. In reaching this conclusion, the court explicitly refused to apply a statute, passed by the legislature, intended to circumvent Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution and keep Mr. Fields in office.
On Tort Reform
2007
- Over the strong dissenting opinion of Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll, the majority opinion, written by Justice Pascal Calogero, held (1) that limitations on the legal liability of Lousiana healthcare providers, as set forth in the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act could be circumvented by an ordinary negligence cause of action; and (2) that such a cause of action was permissible where a New Orleans hospital lost power during Hurricane Katrina, resulting in the death of a patient on life support.
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