Justice Piper D. Griffin (Louisiana Supreme Court) & Derek Warden (Louisiana Supreme Court) have posted Interpreting the Louisiana Constitution (72 Loyola L. Rev. __ (2026) (forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Over its more than fifty-year history, the Louisiana Constitution has shaped-and been shaped by-the culture of our State. It was adopted after a lengthy debate in convention and deep consideration by the citizens of Louisiana. Its aim was to solve many of the problems caused by the Louisiana Constitution of 1921. Most will agree that it has largely succeeded in that endeavor. While many of the current Constitution’s provisions are clear, many are not, and much interpretation has been given to that document over these past five decades. The purpose of this article, then, is to summarize in one place the general methods of interpretation the Louisiana Supreme Court has used to understand that cornerstone of Louisiana law, the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
To achieve its goal, this article is divided into four parts. Part I introduces the Louisiana Constitution generally. Part II discusses the primary interpretative methods the Louisiana Supreme Court has used in understanding the Louisiana Constitution and how these methods of analysis have been largely borrowed from the Civil Code. Part III discusses how the Louisiana Supreme Court has used jurisprudence in interpreting the Louisiana Constitution. Finally, Part IV discusses the records of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973 and how these documents (and related documents) have been used in understanding the organic law of Louisiana. While the article makes no normative claims, we hope that it will serve the Constitution, the Courts, litigants, and the people well.