Justice John Michael Guidry was the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal Chief Judge from 2023 until his election as an Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, 2nd Supreme Court District, effective January 1, 2025. He is the fourth African American Justice elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court in its over 212-year history. He earned his bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in 1983 and received his juris doctor degree, graduating cum laude, from the Southern University Law Center in 1987. Before his judicial career, Justice Guidry served in various roles, including as a legislative assistant and assistant clerk of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He also worked as an assistant parish attorney for the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish. Justice Guidry additionally held the position of commissioner on both the Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission and the Greater Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport Commission. Since 1988, he has been an adjunct professor at the Southern University Law Center and taught at the Southern University Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy. Justice Guidry was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1991 and subsequently to the Louisiana State Senate in 1993. He was elected as a judge of the First Circuit Court of Appeal in 1997, in 2023 he became the 15th chief judge and the first African American chief judge in the court's 145-year history. He is a member of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society and the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, National, and American Bar Associations. Justice Guidry holds memberships with the American Judges Association, the Louisiana Conference of Court of Appeal Judges, and the Louisiana Judicial Council of the National Bar Association. He served as the Louisiana Conference of Court of Appeal Judges’ representative to the Louisiana Judicial Council in 2009 and 2012. He was twice appointed to the governing body of the Louisiana Judicial College. He served as President of the Louisiana Judicial College Board of Governors in 2014. He is a member of the Louisiana Domestic Violence Judicial Curriculum Advisory Committee and a contributor to the Baton Rouge Bar Association Pro Bono Committee. In 2024, he was appointed chair of the Louisiana Supreme Court Technology Commission. Justice Guidry is married to Carol Fowler Guidry, and they are the parents of two children, John Morgan Guidry and Kennedy Michelle Guidry.