The Louisiana Supreme Court has suspended 19th Judicial District Court Judge Eboni Johnson Rose for judicial misconduct stemming from her conduct in four criminal cases, with members of the high court sharply divided over whether her paid interim suspension amounted to a “paid vacation.”
In a disciplinary order issued Wednesday, the court suspended Judge Johnson Rose for six months without pay, deferring four of those months, resulting in an immediate two-month unpaid suspension.
Additionally, she must serve two years of probation and pay over $11,000 in costs, including more than $6,900 to cover the cost of temporary judges appointed in her absence.
The decision follows a joint petition for consent discipline submitted by Judge Rose and the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, in which the judge admitted to serious legal errors in three cases and profane, offensive language—including a racial slur—in a fourth, where she expressed bias against the District Attorney’s Office.
Judge Rose was initially removed from the bench in August 2024 under an interim suspension order after the Judiciary Commission found she posed a “substantial threat of serious harm to the public and the administration of justice.”
However, the court’s final ruling sparked disagreement among the justices.
Associate Justice William J. Crain issued a dissent, criticizing the eight-month paid suspension Rose had served since August.
He argued it was “the equivalent of a paid vacation” and recommended she either serve the full six months without pay or reimburse the public for the salary paid to the pro tempore judge who filled in for her.
Justices James McCallum and Chief Justice John Weimer also dissented. While Justice Piper Griffin concurred in the result, she flagged concerns over voter disenfranchisement in the context of judicial disqualifications.
Judge Johnson Rose was elected to the Division K seat in December 2020. She will now return to the bench under a court-monitored probation agreement, as stipulated in the disciplinary order.
The case underscores ongoing tensions within Louisiana’s judiciary over accountability, judicial independence, and public trust—particularly when judges admit to ethical breaches but remain on the bench.
