Could an elected Louisiana justice of the peace also take a paid appointment to a state board?

Plain-English summary

A state senator asked whether an elected justice of the peace could accept a governor's appointment to a state board or commission, possibly with compensation. In Opinion 03-0010, the Louisiana Attorney General said the justice of the peace could hold the second position if the appointment was part time. He said a full-time appointive office would be prohibited under the dual-office-holding provisions.

The distinction followed from how the statute classified a justice of the peace court. For dual-office-holding purposes, the AG read R.S. 42:62 as making it a separate local political subdivision, rather than part of the state judicial branch. He then applied R.S. 42:63's restriction on an elected local official holding a full-time state appointment. The answer depended on the board position's time commitment. The opinion did not separately analyze the possibility of payment.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Elected justices of the peace

The AG said an elected justice of the peace could simultaneously hold a part-time appointed state board or commission seat. He said a full-time appointive office was barred and cited an earlier opinion's description of full-time work as at least seven hours a day and thirty-five hours a week.

State boards and appointing officials

The opinion applied the dual-office-holding rule by classifying the justice of the peace position and the time commitment of the proposed appointment. Its conclusion was conditional on the appointed seat being part time; it did not identify the duties or hours of a specific board seat.

Common questions

Q: Could a justice of the peace serve on a Louisiana state board? A: The AG said yes if the state board or commission appointment was part time. His answer did not approve a full-time appointed office.

Q: Did a paid board seat automatically violate the rule? A: The request mentioned possible compensation, but the AG's analysis turned on whether the appointed position was part time or full time. He did not separately decide a pay restriction.

Q: Why did the AG treat a justice of the peace differently from a state judge? A: For this statute, he read justice of the peace courts as separate local political subdivisions rather than part of the state's judicial branch.

Q: What did the opinion call a full-time appointment? A: It cited an earlier AG opinion describing full-time work as at least seven hours per day and thirty-five hours per week. This was part of the historical analysis, not a statement of current law.

Background and statutory framework

The request came from Senator Robert J. Barham. The opinion quoted R.S. 42:62's definitions of the state judicial branch and political subdivisions, including the special treatment of justice of the peace courts. It also quoted R.S. 42:63 on simultaneous offices and employment. The AG compared earlier opinions concerning a fire district board and another state commission. The official PDF extract has no legible issue date, so the date field is blank; its printed heading shortens the URL's 03-0010 to 03-10.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: R.S. 42:62 (definitions); R.S. 42:63 (dual office holding). The opinion also cites Atty. Gen. Op. 98-281, Atty. Gen. Op 89-660, Atty. Gen. OP. 84-399, and Atty. Gen. Op. 00-306.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0010

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (504) 342-7013
FAX: (504) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

15 - Courts
78 - Officers-
OPINION 03-I 0
Dual Officeholding
R.S. 42:62
R.S. 42:63

Inasmuch as the justice of peace is defined for purposes of dual
Hon. Robert J. Barham
officeholding as a political subdivision
Louisiana State Senate
of local govemrnent, a justice of the
peace may be appointed to a State
P.O. Box 249
Board or Commission g a Part-time
Rayville, La. 71269
appointed position

Dear Senator Barham:

This office is in receipt of your request for an opinion of the Attorney General in regard to a dual officeholding issue. You ask whether a locally elected Justice of the Peace can also serve on a state board or commission by appointment of the Governor which may provide for monetary compensation while serving.

Pertinent to your inquiry are the provisions of R.S. 42:62(8),(9) and 42:63(B),(D) which provide as follows:

42:62(8) The judicial branch of state government includes all judges, employees, and agents of the supreme court, the judicial administrator, courts of appeal, district courts, including the civil and criminal courts of Orleans Parish, parish courts, city courts, juvenile and family courts, and any other judicial offices and instrumentalities of the stat~, but does not include judges or employees of courts not enumerated in this Paragraph.

42:62(9) "Political subdivision" means a parish, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions. In addition for the purposes of this Part, mayor’s court, justice of the peace courts, district attorneys, sheriffs, clerks of court, coroners, tax assessors, registrar of voters, and all other elected parochial officials shall be se_oarate political subdivisions.

42:63(B) Except as otherwise provided by the Louisiana Constitution, no person holding office or employment in one branch of state government shall at the same time hold another office or employment in any other branch of the state government.

Senator Robert J. Barham
OPINION 03-10
Page 2

42:63(D) No person holding an elective office in a political subdivision of this state shall at the same time hold another elective office or full-time appointive office in the government of this state or in the government of a political subdivision thereof. No such person shall hold at the same time employment in the government of this state, or in the same political subdivision in which he holds an elective office, o ln addition no sheriff, assessor, or clerk of court shall hold any office or employment under a parish governing authority or school board, nor shall any member of any parish governing authority or school board hold any office or employment with any sheriff, assessor, or clerk of court ....

For purposes-of the provisions relative-to dual 0fficeholding, R.S. 42:62 provides that justice of the peace courts shall be a separate political subdivision, and as stated hereinabov~ would be prohibited from holding a =full-time appointive office in the government of this state’, or =employment in the government of the state’.

As-concluded by this office in Atty. Gen. Op. 98-281 if the appointed position on the board or commissioner is part-time, the dual officeholding statute would not prohibit your service on theboardor commission while holding the locally elected office of justice of the peace. However, it was then stated, if the position on the Fire District Board was full-time, the dual-off’m.,eholding provisions would prohibit holding such a position while also holding the locally elected office of justice of the peace.
~

Similar~ in Atty. Gen. Op 89-660 this office concluded since the office of Mayor is a part of a municipal government and separate local political subdivision, he may hold office as a member-of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Commission on the assumption that a member of the Commission holds a part-time appointive office.

In Atty. Gen. OP. 84-399 inquiry was made whether Constables and Justices of the Peace are eligible for coverage under Group Insurance for parish employees and elected parish officials. Quoting R.S. 42:62(8) as enumerating the officers and employees of the judicial branch of state government, it was stated that Justices of the Peace are not classified under the judiccial system, but found they are considered elected parish officials.

Therefore, as long as the appointment to a State Board or Commission is a part-time appointed position there would be no violation of the dual officeholding provisions of R.S. 42:63 inasmuch as the position as justice of the peace is not in the judicial branch of state govemme~, but defined in R.S. 42:62(9) for purposes of dual officeholding as a political
subdivision of local government.
.-

However, as concluded in Atty. Gen. Op. 00-306 an individual who contemporaneously

Senator Robert J. Barham
OPINION 03-10
Page 3

holds the office of Justice of the Peace cannot hold a full-time appointive office which is at least seven hours per day of work and at least thirty-five hours per week of work.

We hope this sufficiently answers your inquiry, but if we can be of further assistance, do not hesitate to contact us.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BARBARA B. RUTLEDGE
Assistant Attorney General

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