SPEAK UP FOR MISSOURI COURTS
You have a right to fair and impartial justice.
You can help protect our courts from the influence of partisan politics.
You can take 9 action steps to ensure the integrity of our courts.
The Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan
A Model for the Nation
Missouri has two systems for electing judges: a partisan system and a Non-Partisan Court Plan. All of Missouri’s appellate judges are selected under the Non-Partisan Court Plan, in which judges apply for their positions on the bench and are selected on the basis of merit. The Plan also includes circuit and associate circuit judges in the City of St. Louis, and in St. Louis, Jackson, Clay, Platte and Greene Counties. In all other Missouri counties, judges are elected as either Democrats or Republicans.
Missouri’s Non-Partisan Court Plan has become a model for the nation. It continues to reduce the role of partisan politics in the selection and election of judges. It also helps ensure the integrity of the judiciary by shielding candidates from undue pressure. More than 30 other states have based all or part of their judicial selection system on The Missouri Plan, as it is known nationally.
Judges who serve under this plan have been nominated by a judicial commission and then selected by the governor. After their first 12 months in office, non-partisan appointed judges must go before the voters in a retention election. Voters are asked whether each of these judges should be retained. To be retained, each judge must receive a majority vote. A similar retention election occurs at the end of each term of office, under the same guidelines and provisions. If a judge does not receive a majority of votes, his or her judicial office will become vacant at the end of its present term. The judicial commission will then nominate three candidates for the position and the governor will appoint one to fill the vacancy. The terms for appellate court judges are 12 years. Among trial judges, circuit judges serve six-year terms, while associate circuit judges have four-year terms.
Two different types of commissions select nominees - appellate commissions and circuit commissions. In both commissions, the members’ terms are staggered. The appellate commission, which selects nominees to fill Supreme Court of Missouri or Court of Appeals openings, consists of a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri, three lawyers and three lay members. The circuit commissions, which select nominees for trial-level openings, include the chief judge of the Court of Appeals district in which the vacancy occurs, two lawyers and two lay members. In both types of commissions, the lawyers are elected by bar members from their circuit or Court of Appeals district, and the lay members are appointed by the governor.
The Non-Partisan Court Plan
How the Non-Partisan Court Plan Reduces the Role of Partisan Politics in the Courts
The Non-Partisan Court Plan has worked for nearly three-quarters of a century. It provides a proven method of selecting judicial applicants who have the skills, knowledge, temperament and standing in the legal community to render justice effectively.
Not only are judges selected based on merit, but once they have served one full year on the bench, they are subjected to a through evaluation, which is then made public. Judicial Performance Evaluation Committees – composed of an equal number of lawyer and nonlawyers – recommend to voters whether every judge standing for retention should be retained. The Committees evaluate judges based on responses to a lawyer survey, a juror survey (for trial judges) – and written opinions and orders of the judges. At the end of each of their terms of office, judges are again evaluated and the results of that evaluation are made public.
Because judges are chosen on merit and not on their political connections, the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan engenders public confidence in the courts.
Highly qualified applicants are more willing to apply for openings on the bench under merit selection because they want a career based on their understanding of law, not on who they know.
Judges chosen under the Non-Partisan Court Plan don’t find themselves presiding over cases brought by attorneys who gave them campaign contributions.
Increasingly, states that elect their appellate-level judges are seeing judges rely on negative advertising and multi-million dollar judicial campaigns. Not only does this convey a negative image of the judiciary, but it also gives the impression that a seat on a state’s high court is for sale. The ads used in the Illinois Supreme Court race are a prime example of the extremely negative portrayal of a state court system that relies on partisan election of appellate judges. In Missouri, the Non-Partisan Court Plan keeps this sort of political excess out of the court system.
The business community relies on the rule of law. Without fair, timely and consistent justice, entrepreneurs can’t try new ideas and day-to-day business can’t be conducted. The Missouri Plan provides a stable, predictable legal environment that supports our system of commerce.
Non-partisan judges are accountable to the public through retention elections.
Missouri Courts Have a Reputation Worth Protecting
Judges do not – and cannot – represent any interest groups. Some may have been active in party politics while they practiced law, but once they are on the bench, it doesn’t matter whether they are a Democrat or a Republican. They owe their allegiance to the law, not to politicians or to special interest groups. Missouri judges have a reputation for providing fair and impartial justice, based on millions of cases, trials and hearings in courthouses throughout the state.
Judges are not infallible, and their decisions are open to criticism and appeal. While conducting trials, judges can and do make errors. Or, at the end of a trial, they may misinterpret the law when deciding the case. The appeals process ensures that these and other errors can be corrected. Appeals also make the law uniform. Because the meaning of some laws can be interpreted in different ways, some appeals are brought to the attention of a higher court to ensure that regardless of where in Missouri a law is applied, it is interpreted the same way.
Legitimate criticism of a court’s decision is appropriate and indicates an informed citizenry that pays attention to the courts and our laws. Criticism that misrepresents the facts or that claims insight into a motive behind a judge’s decision is unfair and destructive. It may advance a political faction’s agenda or an interest group’s goals, but it erodes the public’s trust and confidence in a branch of government that has earned its reputation. It is the policy of The Missouri Bar and a growing number of other groups that support fair and impartial courts to correct unfair and inaccurate criticism of court decisions.
Access to Justice - The Courts Must Be Available to Help Resolve All Types of Legal Conflicts
In the past few years, several Missouri politicians have proposed laws that would limit our state courts from hearing certain types of cases. The Missouri Bar strongly opposes this type of jurisdiction-stripping legislation and urges concerned Missourians to join in opposition of such proposals.
If any jurisdiction-stripping amendment were added to our state constitution, it would deny Missourians the use of their own courts to resolve legal conflicts. We would have the dubious distinction of becoming the first state in the nation to limit the rights of its citizens to use their own courts to resolve disputes. Removing an area of law from the jurisdiction of Missouri’s courts breaches the system of checks and balances that keep the branches of government from abusing their powers.
How Judges Are Held Accountable to the Public
Missouri judges are held accountable for their behavior and decisions in a variety of ways. Accountability is built into the structure of the court system.
Judges are not free to ignore the body of law that applies to the case before them. Virtually all legal cases are argued based on the cases and interpretations of law that preceded them. Judges who deviate from acceptable precedent find their interpretations appealed, sometimes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Because laws and society are constantly changing, appellate judges – on rare occasion – reverse the precedent their court previously set or they arrive at a new interpretation of a legal issue. If the legislative branch of government does not agree with the new precedent, it can override the power of the courts by creating a new law or proposing a constitutional amendment to the people of Missouri.
Errors in the way trials are conducted are also corrected through the appeals process.
In Missouri, the state constitution established a Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges. This Commission, which includes lawyers as well as citizens from other professions, investigates complaints against judges.
All judges stand before voters periodically for election or retention. Individual judges remain on the bench only as long as the public continues to vote for a new term.
The courts belong to the people of Missouri and are public institutions. The news media regularly cover trials and scrutinize the behavior of judges.
The Missouri Bar has developed a thorough system of evaluating the performance of non-partisan judges who will be standing in retention elections. Evaluation commissions make their recommendations public before the general election.
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Step 1Realize your power. You are a citizen with a voice. You not only have the right to express your opinion, you have a responsibility. Responsible citizens recognize the effects of their actions on others.
Step 2
Be civil. To be heard, you must also listen.
Step 3
Educate yourself. It's probably been a long time since you've had a civics course. If you aren't sure how the different branches of government work, you need to find out.
Step 4
Test your opinions by discussing them with others. Ideas change and are clarified when they are exposed to others' points of view. The heart of democracy is the thoughtful discussion of issues that concern us.
Step 5
Stay informed. View and read news critically. Missouri has outstanding media that cover all facets of state government.
Step 6
Use the Internet. Everything you always wanted to know about Missouri's court system can be found at www.courts.mo.gov, the Missouri Judiciary Homepage. Links will lead you to written decisions made by Missouri's appellate courts.
Step 7
Do something positive. Invite a lawyer or a judge to speak to your civic or social group.
Step 8
Know who your state legislators are. You can find them at http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx.
Step 9
Contact your state legislator. Call, write or email. Our government works best when our representatives have a clear idea of what their constituents want. Let your legislators know that you value fair and impartial courts and are against any measures to politicize the judiciary.
This booklet is published by The Missouri Bar, the statewide organization to which all lawyers must belong. The Missouri Bar is committed to ensuring that judges remain independent from outside pressures yet accountable to informed voters.