By: Chris Joseph | fox8live.com | July 13, 2026
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A new state law is expected to more than double how much the public pays Louisiana Supreme Court justices for working in New Orleans.
State law currently provides every justice a $1,500 monthly reimbursement, designed to cover housing and other expenses for working in New Orleans.
Come January, the court expects that monthly payment to increase to $4,000.
The state Supreme Court convenes at a courthouse in the French Quarter. But most of the seven justices are elected from districts across the state and live outside the city.
The court says justices do not submit receipts for those monthly payments, meaning there’s no itemized record of where that money will go. In a statement, the court said the payments can go toward housing, utilities, internet and other expenses while on official duty.
The increase is the result of State Sen. Gregory Miller (R-Norco) successfully pushing through a bill which ties the monthly payments to consumer inflation, rounded to increments of $100.
The court says the $1,500 stipend was set in 1988. The adjusted $4,000 payment is a product of the inflation since.
“Well, hopefully, if inflation doesn’t grow, it won’t grow,” Miller said.
The increase adds up to an extra $30,000 a year for the justices, and that could go up.
The court said only one justice has declined the increase.
Chief Justice John Weimer released a statement calling the increase a “windfall.” He vowed not to take the increased amount.
If Weimer refuses the additional money, the court would pay an extra $180,000 toward the payments next year.
Miller said he changed the payments to account for inflation and to keep the issue from re-emerging at the state capitol.
“The judiciary doesn’t have to come to us every time after inflation to say, ‘Hey, we want to catch up and have it part of the political process,’” he said.
The increase comes on top of the justices’ six-figure salaries and per diem payments.
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission and a judicial spending watchdog, called the $4,000 payments “excessive,” and pointed to the justices’ other compensation.
“I think that that is, you know, placing the entire judiciary in an adverse light,” he said.
The Louisiana Supreme Court previously told Fox 8 the justices do not submit receipts for the payments.
It sent a statement for this story saying state law does not require receipts, but the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office could review the expenses if it wanted to.
Miller’s law does not address receipts.
“I trust the justices to try to be able to not just use this money for untoward means,” he said.
He said he has not asked any justice for a “detailed accounting” but pointed to phone, internet and newspaper subscriptions.
State Rep. Kathy Edmonston (R-Gonzales) was the only state lawmaker to vote against Miller’s bill. She said oversight of the payments will be a priority for her during next spring’s legislative session.
“It’s just not good. Why would we not ask for receipts and someone to oversee those funds?” she said.
Miller declined to commit to filing a bill to require receipts, but acknowledged there are questions about how to document the costs going forward.
“I would probably want to find out what they are using those payments for, so that we can better justify the amount that they are getting paid,” he said.
He said the issue can be revisited.