Missouri GOP Targets Judicial Selection Process After Redistricting Setback
Missouri Republicans are renewing a push to change the state's 86-year-old nonpartisan system for selecting top judges after the Missouri Supreme Court allowed a referendum on a GOP congressional map to move forward, keeping the old map in place for now. Under the Missouri Plan, lawyer-led commissions send the governor a list of three candidates for appellate and some circuit court seats. Previous efforts to repeal or weaken the system failed in 1942 and 2012.
Missouri's system, adopted about 86 years ago, uses commissions of lawyers to send the governor three finalists for the Supreme Court, appellate courts, and some populous circuit courts. Voters rejected repeal in 1942.
In 2007, conservative activist Leonard Leo tried to get Gov. Matt Blunt to reject a Supreme Court slate; Blunt refused. In 2012, voters defeated a GOP proposal to give the governor more control by a three-to-one margin. The renewed effort follows a court fight over a mid-decade congressional gerrymander and a referendum.
The outcome could affect how judicial independence and partisan balance are perceived in Missouri. If selection rules change, governors may gain more influence over appellate benches, potentially altering rulings on voting maps, elections, and other policy disputes. Voters, litigants, and communities relying on impartial courts may feel the consequences. The dispute may also intensify public debate over whether courts should be insulated from electoral politics or more accountable to elected officials.