The Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson Supreme Court Museum and Portait by Haitian artist Ulrick Jean-Pierre, unveiled at the court on Feb. 17, 2014. (Courtesy of The Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Society)
She won a special election for a new seat created to integrate the court in 1994, then had to sue her white male colleagues in 2012 to lead them, even though she was their most senior member by then. But the Louisiana Supreme Court has now renamed its museum to honor its first African American chief justice.
The display space on the first floor of the Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero Jr. Courthouse at 400 Royal St. in New Orleans is now officially named the Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson Supreme Court Museum. The Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Society proposed the change to honor Johnson, who is retiring Dec. 31.
