Running for Office: 1st Circuit Court of Appeal

Judge Toni Manning Higginbotham, of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, is a Republican candidate for the District 5 seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The election is Nov. 6. District 5 includes the parishes of East and West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Livingston, Ascension, Iberville and Pointe Coupee.

Higginbotham served 14 years on Family Court in East Baton Rouge Parish before winning election to the 1st Circuit in 2010.

She is president-elect of the American Judges Association, served seven years on the National Judicial Task Force and is a past president of the Juvenile and Family Court Judges of Louisiana.

“As we have seen recently on the U.S. Supreme Court, many constitutional and legal issues are ending up in our court system,” Higginbotham said. “I will protect our constitutional freedoms and individual rights by strictly interpreting the law, and I will not allow the courtroom to become a vehicle for carrying out an extremist agenda.

“My experience as a judge and a citizen and my proven conservative credentials will guide me on the Supreme Court.”

Higginbotham served as commissioner and chairwoman of the Greater Baton Rouge Airport Commission, on the board of Crimestoppers, the East Baton Rouge Library Board, Council on Aging and the administrative board of First United Methodist Church.

She is a graduate of LSU and Southern University and had a civil law practice before being elected judge.

Higginbotham is a past president of East Baton Rouge Republican Women, served on the parish’s Republican Executive Committee and the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee and worked to help elect President Ronald Reagan and Gov. Dave Treen.

Reagan later appointed Higginbotham to the Selective Service Board.

Treen appointed her the governor’s liaison to local and parish governments, and assistant secretary of the Department of Urban and Community Affairs.

The election is for the remaining six years of Chief Justice Kitty Kimball’s 10-year term. Kimball will retire in January.

Other Republican candidates are 1st Circuit Judges Jewel E. “Duke” Welch of Baton Rouge and Jeff Hughes of Walker, and state District Judges William “Bill” Morvant and Timothy E. “Tim” Kelley, both of Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge attorney Jeffry Lamonte Sanford, no party, also is campaigning for the seat.

Democrat candidates, both from Baton Rouge, are 1st Circuit Judge John Michael Guidry and attorney Mary Olive Pierson.

Voters seeking more information on Higginbotham can email her at toni@judgehigginbotham.com or visit her website, http://www.judgehigginbotham.com.