Chief Justice John Weimer, Louisiana judges spar over pay

John Weimer sits atop the judicial system in Louisiana as the chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

But Weimer has spent years running into a brick wall of opposition from judges when he tells them that they have to make a decision that would hit them in the pocketbook.

On Monday, they disregarded Weimer’s plea once again. One judge even engaged in a testy exchange with him over their disagreement.

For several years, Weimer has been trying to convince an obscure board called the Judicial Supplemental Compensation Fund to pay the Supreme Court for the time its staff spends to administer it.

The board is unknown to the public but matters greatly to judges because it decides how much to augment their salaries from the fund, which is fed by fees on civil court filings across the state.