Judges plan keeps courts nonpartisan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The following statement was co-signed by former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justices John Holstein, Ann Covington, Ronnie White and Edward “Chip” Robertson.
The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan is our state’s highly regarded, 67-year-old system of appointing and retaining judges. The current selection process under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan protects the judiciary from total control by politicians and political parties — putting fairness and qualifications over partisanship.
In fact, Missouri’s plan is a model for other states, 30 of which have adopted portions of the plan.
Missourians continue to show confidence in our judiciary and support for the nonpartisan court plan as demonstrated in the November 2008 elections. Voters in Greene County, in response to rising judicial election pressures, chose merit selection over contested elections by passing a ballot measure to bring the county under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. In the judicial retention elections in November, the voters continued the upward trend of support by approving the judges on the Supreme Court and appellate courts by record percentages.
During the 2008 legislative session, the grass-roots efforts of organizations such as Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts were instrumental in derailing similar legislation aimed at undoing our system of merit selection. The Missouri House of Representatives saw the flaws in this proposal and overwhelmingly defeated it by a vote of 69-83.
With the 2009 legislative session under way, interest groups representing a very small minority of residents opposed to the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan have yet again renewed their efforts with the introduction of Senate Joint Resolution 9 and House Joint Resolution 10. Unfortunately, both of these measures would only weaken Missouri’s judicial system by injecting more politics and greater influence of politicians into judicial selection.
The Missouri General Assembly should respect the wishes of Missouri voters who have clearly demonstrated their support for our current judicial selection process under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan by rejecting Senate Joint Resolution 9 and House Joint Resolution 10.
Holstein, Covington, White and Robertson serve as honorary co-chairs of Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts, a coalition of organizations and individuals devoted to protecting Missouri courts from attacks by a small group of politicians and special interest groups and preserving the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan.