The country's highest paid Judge is a Jefferson Parish Justice of the Peace.

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A government building in an Elmwood office park is not where you'd expect to find the person who might be the highest-paid judge in the United States. 

But that's where Jefferson Parish Justice of the Peace Charles Cusimano II has held court for nearly two decades, collecting more annual pay than the salary of the chief justice of the US Supreme Court. 

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Cusimano's court took in nearly $1 million in fees in 2025 and paid himself $380,929 from those fees to augment his $21,600 parish salary, a state audit shows.

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On June 18, Cusimano — a former state lawmaker and state district court judge — heard 86 cases in just 36 minutes, The Guardian reported. In every case but one he ordered the tenant out.

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Lisa Foster, a retired California Superior Court judge and the former director of the Office for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice told The Guardian the process is "blatantly unconstitutional." 

"She pointed to a more than century-old U.S. Supreme Court precedent, which found that a defendant’s rights were violated if their case was heard before a judge with a direct financial interest in the outcome," The Guardian reported. 

“Without question, the Louisiana justice of the peace system has failed its citizens, yet no one seems to be taking action," Foster told the outlet. 

Louisiana is the only state where justices of the peace earn income directly from the court fees they charge, The Guardian found. 

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