Changes to “Missouri Plan” for judicial selection are being debated
The Missouri House of Representatives has given initial support to a plan that would alter the way Missouri selects judges for its Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
The current plan, called the “Missouri Plan” or “Nonpartisan Court Plan”, has been in place since 1940. Under the current plan, a special commission nominates three candidates for judicial vacancies and forwards the names to the governor. This commission is made up of lawyers, residents, and the state Supreme Court chief justice. The governor then has sixty days to select one or the committee will make the selection. The judge that is selected must then stand in a retention election after completing one year of service.
The new plan being debated would add another citizen to the commission and would make the commission select four candidates to recommend to the governor. The governor could then veto the initial group of candidates and force the committee to select another. All the hearings and votes made by the commission would be made public and applicants would be posted online.
Opponents of the current Missouri Plan welcome the proposed changes and say that the current selection process gives too much power to lawyers who influence the selection process. The American Tort Reform Association and the Wall Street Journal have recently made criticisms of the Missouri Plan.
Supporters of the current system say that those asking for reform only want to target the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. Tort reform groups seem to view “trial lawyer” as a nasty term and work to limit the damages that can be awarded by personal injury lawsuits among other reforms. Rep. Steve Brown (D-St. Louis) was quoted in a MissouriNet report asking for reformers to name just one unqualified judge selected by the plan.
The proposal for changes would need to be approved by the senate and go to a vote of the people before taking effect.
