In an unusual legal skirmish, Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jeff Hughes filed a federal lawsuit over the holidays against four of his fellow justices, challenging their decision to exclude Hughes from participating in consideration of two so-called legacy lawsuits before the high court because the plaintiffs’ attorneys contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his 2012 election.
Hughes, a Republican from Livingston Parish who is in his first term on the court, asked a federal judge to undo his “forced recusal” from the cases, claiming his colleagues on the bench effectively have placed “unconstitutional limits on the amount of money a person can contribute to a political action committee.”