John Weimer
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Justice Weimer received a B.S. degree in 1976 from Nicholls State University, graduating with academic honors, and his Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University in 1980. Prior to his election to the Supreme Court, Justice Weimer served as Judge pro tempore of the 17th Judicial District Court, Division D. He was elected Judge for the 17th Judicial District Court, Division A, in 1995 and re-elected in 1996 without opposition. In 1998, he was elected Judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, District 1, Division B, and served until his election to the Louisiana Supreme Court in 2001. He was subsequently elected unopposed to a full ten-year term in 2002.
For fifteen years, 1980-1995, Justice Weimer was an attorney in the private practice of law.
Weimer was also both an Adjunct Professor of Law and a Professor of Law at Nicholls State University during the years from 1982-1997.
On the issues
Discrimination and equal protection
- Justice Weimer 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 Weimer 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 Weimer concurred in 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."
Government accountability
- Justice Weimer concurred in majority opininion, 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.
Personal responsibility
- Justice Weimer concurred in majority opinion of Justice Jeffrey P. Victory, 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."
Taxes
- Justice Weimer 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.
Tax Increment Financing
- Justice Weimer concurred in the majority opinion, written by Justice Catherine D. Kimball, which, over the strong dissenting opinion of Justice Chet D. Traylor, 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.
Term limits
- 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.
Tort reform
- Over the strong dissenting opinion of Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll, in which Justice Weimer joined, 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.
Associations
Justice Weimer is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Lafourche Parish Bar Association, the Rotary Club, the Thibodaux Volunteer Fire Department, the Nicholls State University Alumni Board and former Volunteer Legal Counsel, the Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce, the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce, and the Assumption Chamber of Commerce. He has served as a Delegate to the Louisiana State Bar Association, as the 1997 Regional Co-Chairman of the Citizens' Summit for Justice Reform, and he established and is the coordinator of the Lafourche Parish Student Government Day Program.
Awards
Justice Weimer has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including: Victims & Citizens Against Crime Outstanding Judicial Award; Crimefighter's Outstanding Jurist Award; the 2002 Nicholls State University Outstanding Alumni Award and the 50th Anniversary Golden Graduate Award; Who's Who Among American Teachers; and the Nicholls State University Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence. Justice Weimer was recognized for the significant assistance he provided in establishing the Lafourche Parish Drug Treatment Court.
External links
References
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The Louisiana Project on Judgepedia
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