Louisiana Supreme Court justice, who kept divorce records private, closer to federal judgeship

A Louisiana Supreme Court justice, who requested that all of his divorce records be kept private for several months, is one step closer to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. 

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday recommended Justice Will Crain for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana based in New Orleans. The full U.S. Senate still has to confirm him before he can take the job. 

Crain, a Madisonville resident, has been on the Louisiana Supreme Court since 2020 and previously worked as a state appellate and district court judge. He also spent two decades as a practicing attorney in St. Tammany Parish.

The justice placed his divorce proceedings and documents under court seal for most of the year before President Donald Trump announced Crain’s nomination to the federal bench in October. This meant that no one besides Crain, his ex-wife, their attorneys, the presiding judge and court staff had the right to access to his divorce records before the case was settled. 

Crain could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon on his cellphone.

His divorce attorney, Ross Lagarde, has said the divorce seal was necessary to ensure the justice’s personal safety. The seal was in place for 11 months until August. It was lifted after after a reporter asked Lagarde why the documents weren’t publicly available.  

Judge William “Billy” Burris, of Louisiana’s 22nd Judicial District Court, granted the seal for Crain’s divorce records based on a state law that wasn’t in effect at the time, according to court documents released after the seal was lifted.

A new state law allowing judges to keep their divorce records private was passed in June 2024, but didn’t go into effect until February 2025. Yet Lagarde cited the law as the justification in his request to seal Crain’s divorce records in September 2024, five months before the law became active. 

Burris, who also oversaw the rest of Crain’s divorce case, is now one of several Republican candidates running for the Louisiana Supreme Court seat that would be vacated by Crain if he becomes a federal judge. Burris could not be reached for comment Friday at his office. 

Crain is dating his former law clerk at the Supreme Court, Julie Eldridge, who filed for divorce from her ex-husband about a month before Crain did. Infidelity was not mentioned in either of Crain or Eldridge’s divorce records.