Joe B. Whisler

As I was preparing for my year as president of The Missouri Bar, several people inquired as to my agenda. When asked that same question, my old friend Dennis Archer, the first African-American president of the American Bar Association, said he figured his agenda would find him.

My agenda showed up uninvited within a few days after I became president. Two threats to the administration of justice within Missouri were knocking on my door at the same time. Both threats are serious and will require a sensitive, creative approach that helps unite our bar and improves the public's confidence in a fair and unbiased judiciary.

Threat 1: The Integrity of the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan

For more than 60 years, the non-partisan court plan has successfully limited the role of politics and money in judicial retention elections in Missouri. By contrast, our neighbors in Illinois have just completed one of the ugliest and most expensive elections for a contested seat on their state's highest court. More than $8 million was raised on behalf of the candidates, with much of it spent on television commercials that stained the image of the courts in that state.

The immediate threat to the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan has come from interest groups and politicians who distorted the record of the only Missouri Supreme Court judge on the retention ballot last month. Although lawyers can and do read court decisions regularly, most of the public have neither the background nor time to follow the logic behind a judge's legal reasoning.

In addition to the judicial surveys we currently provide to the public, much public education will be needed to provide citizens with the tools needed to determine what is hyperbole, what is false, what is misleading, and what is accurate criticism of a judge. This is not going to be an easy task. Lawyers who evaluate judges' decisions have honest differences of opinion. The difference is that lawyers' opinions are informed; most of the public's are not.

Threat 2: Judicial Independence

Our courts cannot be fair forums for the resolution of conflict if judges are subjected to political or economic pressures to arrive at pre-determined verdicts that appeal to a special interest group or political party. We live in a free country, where freedom of speech can be considered the foundation of all our other rights. Free and vigorous criticism of public officials is not only a cherished American right, but it is also an established and productive institution of civic life in our country. It is damaging to our system of justice when politicians and interest groups send the message that qualified, competent judges should be removed from the bench because of a decision that the politicians or interest groups don't like.

The Next Steps

We must preserve an independent judiciary, and we must safeguard our non-partisan court plan, which has unfailingly served the administration of justice within Missouri. By the time you read this, I am hopeful that the Board of Governors of The Missouri Bar will have given me the authority to set up a bipartisan panel to address a proper and measured response on these important issues.

There is a role for all lawyers concerned about the preservation of the non-partisan court plan and threats to judicial independence. As I wrote last month, your efforts in contacting your local legislators to explain the importance of judicial independence is the single best way that each of you can make a difference on this issue.