Litigation

Temporary Restraining Order Denied in MO Battle

By Peter Hardin

Two groups with sharply opposing views about the best way to choose Missouri judges sparred again in a courtroom Friday. A judge denied a request for a temporary restraining order against the group that is defending Missouri’s nationally acclaimed merit system for choosing judges.

ShowMe Better Courts seeks a ballot measure  to scrap the state’s  judicial appointment system and replace it with competitive partisan elections. The group sought a restraining order against the Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Action Fund.

ShowMe Better Courts alleged that workers for the latter group tried to block signature-gathering efforts to put the issue on the ballot in November and even assaulted people gathering signatures, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article. A lawyer for Fair and Impartial Courts argued that a restraining order would restrain free-speech rights.

Associate Circuit Judge Terry Cundiff denied the order. The criminal courts would better resolve the issues raised, he said. A week earlier, a different judge granted a temporary restraining order against Fair and Impartial Courts one day and dissolved it the next; see Gavel Grab for further details.

To learn more about appointment/retention systems, see Justice at Stake’s issues page about them.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 24, 2010 (boomark / email).