Justice Jefferson Jeff Hughes (via YouTube screengrab).
An embattled Republican justice of Louisiana’s top court penned a confusing, 13-word opinion in a case against health care providers asking a rather unusual question: “Can’t anyone manage the words ‘Don’t have sex’!”
The opinion — a concurrence by Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Jefferson D. Hughes III in a case against an obstetrician, her medical practice, and a hospital — was issued alongside a majority decision supported by the rest of the seven-justice high court panel. Details about the underlying case have not been made publicly available.
Hughes’ bizarre one-line concurrence that somehow managed to be brief while also conveying more than a hint of incredulous antipathy toward medical terms relating to pregnancy and intimacy.
That line: “Ectopic pregnancy precautions? Pelvic rest? Can’t anyone manage the words ‘Don’t have sex’!”
The exclamation point at the end of the 13-word concurrence suggests that the judge’s question is merely rhetorical.
Concurring opinions generally indicate that the author agrees with the court’s ruling, but wishes to clarify the reasoning or make an alternate point of some kind. Hughes appears to have used his concurrence to call out the use of the terms “ectopic pregnancy precautions” and “pelvic rest,” which are commonly-used medical terms that refer to instructions given to a pregnant patient who is told to avoid having sexual intercourse.
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus. If the pregnancy grows inside a fallopian tube — as is the case with the vast majority of ectopic pregnancies — it can cause the tube to burst, causing major internal bleeding and creating a potentially life-threatening situation for the pregnant woman.
The underlying lawsuit was filed by husband and wife Jonah and Ashley Keller against Touro Infirmary, Crescent City Physicians, and Dr. Jennifer Lapeyroleerie, though the complaint has not been made public. The defendant health care providers appear to have lost in the lower courts, as the medical providers had appealed to the state Supreme Court. The justices ultimately ruled in the defendants’ favor, finding that the trial court erred by allowing the defendants to call only a single member of a medical review panel as a witness in the case. The high court then remanded the case back to trial court for further proceedings.
Hughes, a Republican, has served as an elected judge since 1990. He first took the bench in the Pelican State’s 21st judicial district, and was elected in 2004 to the Court of Appeal, where he sat until 2013. He was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2012 and was re-elected in 2018 when he ran unopposed as “a pro-life, pro-gun rights, and pro-traditional marriage” candidate. Hughes is now serving a 10-year term.
Hughes made headlines in 2020 for filing multiple defamation lawsuits against a handful of media outlets and a legal watchdog group dedicated to stopping abusive lawsuits. He complained that the media organizations caused “embarrassment and damage to his reputation” with coverage of misconduct allegations against him. One news story with which Hughes took issue was an editorial column that said multiple people claimed Hughes had presided over a child custody case while he was simultaneously in a romantic relationship with one of the party’s attorneys — an allegation to which Hughes appears to have admitted.
The parties did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Read the concurrence, below.
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