Litigation

Missouri?s Merit Plan Defended, Targeted

By Peter Hardin

Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. staunchly defended the state’s merit selection plan for choosing judges on the same day a proposal to change it was announced.

“Big money in judicial elections is a scandal,” Justice Price (photo) said in his State of the Judiciary remarks to the legislature, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

He was critical of proposals that would result in direct election of judges. Justice Price went on, according to a text of his remarks:

“Whether rich, poor, black, white, plaintiff, defendant, individual, corporation, prosecutor, accused, republican, democrat or independent, the people of Missouri deserve justice when they come to court. They deserve a level playing field and a fair chance. They deserve judges who make decisions on evidence and law, not judges who have been influenced by big money
contributions from special interests.

“Judges who have been bought and paid for have not been the Missouri way since 1940, and they should not be the Missouri way of the future.”

Meanwhile a group called Better Courts for Missouri announced the filing of a bill to change the nationally recognized Missouri Plan for merit selection of judges by increasing the non-lawyers on the commission that recommends candidates to the governor.

The measure also would require Senate confirmation of the commission members and would allow a governor to reject a panel of judicial candidates recommended to him.

“The Missouri Plan is not doing its intended job,” said lobbyist James Harris, who is executive director of Better Courts for Missouri.

Last year, critics of the Missouri Plan tried unsuccessfully to  collect enough valid signatures to get a repeal measure on the ballot in the fall. The critics were pushing for direct election of judges to sit on appeals courts, the state Supreme Court and in the largest urban areas. fall (see Gavel Grab).

In his remarks about direct elections of judges, Justice Price warned, “The amount of money involved in conducting statewide races will destroy the public?s perception, and perhaps the actual integrity, of our judicial system.”

He added, “As special interest politics have increased, the amount of money directed to judicial elections has skyrocketed. For the 10- year period from 1990 to 1999, $83.3 million was spent on judicial elections. For the 10-year period from 2000 to 2009, that amount more than doubled to $206.9 million.” He was quoting data from “The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009: Decade of Change,” compiled by Justice at Stake and partner groups.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 10, 2011 (boomark / email).