In a dispute over who should serve as the next Louisiana Supreme Court chief justice, a federal judge has ruled for Associate Justice Bernette Johnson, who would become the first black jurist to preside over the court.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan concluded on September 1 that Johnson, who first joined the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1994, had more seniority than Associate Justice Jeffrey Victory. Louisiana law requires the longest serving justice on the Supreme Court to preside.