Key findings from the Guardian’s investigation of Louisiana’s justice of the peace courts

A constable knocks on a door to deliver an eviction notice in Jefferson parish, Louisiana, on 16 September 2026. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian

The highest-paid judge in the United States does not sit on the US supreme court.

The jurist who is probably the country’s highest-paid judge holds a part-time position as a justice of the peace in the suburbs of New Orleans, hearing cases in a small courtroom twice a week and presiding over a jurisdiction of just 25 sq miles.