Joe B. Whisler

Go back and look at the cover.

Usually, the first incoming Missouri Bar "President's Page" has a picture of the president. This cover is much more important. Pictured on the cover is the award given to The Missouri Bar by the American Judicature Society in 1965 for establishing the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, now commonly known simply as the Missouri Plan.

Since the plan's adoption in 1940, some 33 states have adopted it in whole or in part.Now it is under attack in its birthplace. During the last legislative session, House Joint Resolution 50, sponsored by 58 legislators, was introduced to do away with the Missouri Plan. I am proud to say that none of these sponsors was a lawyer. Fortunately, the bill was not adopted.

"The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution." These are not my words. They were written in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, the doyenne of the Federalist Society, in The Federalist No. 78. Today, lawyers and judges are under attack from doctors, the Chamber of Commerce and now even the President of the United States. Those of you on the east side of this state have seen the ads being run in Illinois suggesting that lawyers and judges have somehow formed an unholy alliance. I will address several anti-judge and anti-lawyer issues in later columns, because I think it is time for us to stand up for the 28,000 lawyers of this great state and fight back.

The Missouri Plan was a response to corruption in the 1930s, when persons of good faith realized the importance of equal justice for all. I believe that part of the problem with HJR 50 was that the legislators did not understand the impact the Missouri Plan has on the administration of justice. We need to take an affirmative role in educating the public in general, and the legislature in particular, about the importance of an independent judiciary. I intend to ask certain of you to contact your local legislator if this bill, or a variant, shows up again – as I fear it will. I will ask you to sit down with your legislator and discuss, in a non-confrontational manner, the significance of an independent court system.

This year it is anticipated that the campaign for election of the sitting Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court will cost well in excess of $2,000,000. Individual lawyers in Texas have given in excess of $100,000 to campaigns for the state Supreme Court there. I do not want the people of our state to believe that justice is for sale in Missouri.

Those within the anti-judge movement say that there are "activist judges" who are at fault for all of society's problems. We all know that judges do not go out to find a case. They take what comes before them and do their best to rule fairly, in accordance with the body of law that began under judges like John Marshall. Judges need to be able to do this without fear that their rulings may cost them their jobs. We lawyers need to make sure that the third branch of government continues to do its important duty, untrammeled by fear of reprisal.