Lawmakers call to reform Louisiana's 'blatantly unconstitutional' justice of the peace system

Louisiana Lawmakers Demand Reform of Fee-Driven Eviction Courts

A bipartisan group of senior Louisiana lawmakers has called for an urgent overhaul of the state’s justice of the peace courts. The push follows a joint investigative report by theguardian.com exposing systemic due process issues and a fee-driven funding model that legal experts have labeled blatantly unconstitutional.

Unlike standard municipal or district courts supported by tax-allocated budgets, Louisiana’s justice of the peace courts are uniquely funded entirely by the filing fees each individual court generates. This financial structure turns everyday civil actions—predominantly evictions in one of the poorest states in the nation—into direct revenue streams for the presiding judges. While thousands of tenants face displacement amid a persistent affordable housing crunch, a handful of these judicial officers are taking home six-figure incomes that outpace top federal jurists.

Consider the scale of the financial returns. Chuck Cusimano II, a justice of the peace operating in the New Orleans metropolitan area, earned in excess of $400,000 in 2025 primarily from eviction filing fees. That figure sits more than $80,000 above the annual salary earned by United States Chief Justice John Roberts. Cusimano is not an isolated outlier; an investigation revealed that at least five justices statewide cleared more than $220,000 in fee-generated income in a single year between 2023 and 2025.

The Financial Incentives Driving High Eviction Rates

The structural design of these courts creates an undeniable economic friction point. Because judges draw their compensation directly from the volume of filings processed through their offices, critics point out that the system builds a perverse incentive to rule in favor of landlords who return with repeat business.

Cusimano’s court in the New Orleans suburb of Harahan processed more than 5,500 eviction cases between June 2025 and May 2026, according to an extensive data analysis. That volume means eviction actions were filed in nearly one in every five rental households within his specific jurisdiction, placing his court among the highest-volume eviction processors tracked nationwide by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.

Defending his output, Cusimano argued that his high caseload stems strictly from the density of residential complexes in his territory rather than any financial bias. “I made a very good living last year. I am not embarrassed for the work I do.”

When a judicial system appears to create financial incentives that call impartiality into question, the legislature has a responsibility to act, said Kyle Green, leader of the state house Democratic caucus.

Bipartisan Backlash and Legislative Roadmaps

The mounting public scrutiny has fractured predictable party lines, uniting progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans behind a common reform agenda. State Representative Jerome Zeringue, a Republican member of the house judiciary committee, stated that the compensation system is an obvious cause for concern that must be evaluated and restructured ahead of the state legislative session slated for April.

Zeringue has also targeted the minimal prerequisites required to hold the office. Under current state statutes, individuals seeking a judgeship do not need to hold a law license (Louisiana Revised Statutes). Candidates require only a high-school diploma and a designation of good moral character.

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Democratic lawmakers share those structural concerns. State Senator Royce Duplessis described the setup as flagrantly unethical, noting that tying judicial income directly to case volume subverts public trust. Meanwhile, New Orleans-area lawmakers highlighted that justice of the peace courts are not courts of record, meaning they bypass standard rules of evidence—such as allowing hearsay—and frequently leave vulnerable tenants without written transcripts of proceedings.

“We are a poor state and housing is an issue everywhere, and you have people losing their homes without any due process, without any written records,” said State Representative Mandie Landry. “It’s kind of repulsive that this is still happening.”

As drafting gets underway for upcoming legislative proposals, the central debate remains how to strip the profit motive out of local adjudication without abandoning the rural and suburban communities these courts were originally chartered to serve.