The Missouri House has announced the formation of a Special Standing Committee on Judicial Reform. The committee will be responsible for working on important reforms that will help improve Missouri’s courts.

The committee is chaired by Rep. Jason Smith, and the vice-chair is Rep. Doug Funderburk. The other members of the committee include Rep. Sue Allen, Rep. Michael Brown, Rep. Susan Carlson, Rep. Mike Colona, Rep. Kathie Conway, Rep. Stanley Cox, Rep. David Day, Rep. Don Gosen, Rep. Chris Kelly, Rep. Mike Lair, Rep. Rodney Schad, Rep. Clem Smith, and Rep. Zachary Wyatt.

Better Courts for Missouri thanks Speaker Steven Tilley and House leadership for putting together this committee to look at new reforms that will improve our judiciary.

Today at 10:30 a.m., Chief Justice Richard Teitelman will deliver the annual State of the Judiciary address to the Missouri General Assembly.

“The events of 2011 have called the competence and integrity of our state’s judicial branch into question, and I hope that Chief Justice Teitelman will use this opportunity to reflect on how he can help make 2012 better for our courts and our state,” said James Harris. “There are real problems in our judiciary – in the general attitude and direction of the court, in the decisions that have caused our state to once again be named to the American Tort Reform Association’s list of Dishonorable Mentions, and in the Appellate Apportionment Commission’s frankly bizarre actions during the redistricting process, among many others – and they need to be addressed. The court has taken some small steps to fix some of these problems, but more work needs to be done.”

“Chief Justice Teitelman has an opportunity to get started today by addressing one of the most stubborn problems with our judicial branch – the complete lack of transparency,” continued Harris. “Despite the clear transparency requirements of the Sunshine Law and Supreme Court Operating Rule 20, our judiciary regularly attempts to use loopholes and custom-made rules to bypass public oversight on issues as important as redistricting and judicial selection. The judiciary is important because it is here to serve all Missourians, not just judges and attorneys. I hope that Chief Justice Teitelman will take this opportunity to address the court’s persistent transparency problems and announce a plan to ensure full compliance with Missouri’s Sunshine Law. I also hope that, unlike his predecessors, Chief Justice Teitelman will not lobby against changes that will improve our courts.”

Today, the Supreme Court released a per curiam decision on State ex rel. Molly Teichman v. Robin Carnahan, et al., a case seeking to nullify the State Senate maps filed by the Appellate Apportionment Commission. The Supreme Court sustained the petition, overturning both Senate maps and restarting the Senate apportionment process. In the decision, the Supreme Court acknowledges that the Appellate Apportionment Commission made huge errors when drawing the Senate maps, including ignoring the constitutional requirements of Article III, Section 7, and going above and beyond their clearly-defined constitutional authority by reconvening and submitting a replacement Senate map

“This decision illustrates that the Missouri Plan does not truly result in the appointment of the most competent judges in our state. If it did, this mess would not have happened. Any layman’s reading of the Constitution makes it clear that the map violated Article III, Section 7 of the Constitution,” said James Harris.

He continued, “The six judges on the Appellate Apportionment Commission are supposed to be among the best and brightest legal minds in our state. They are just one step below the Supreme Court, and indeed two of them have been nominated to fill Supreme Court vacancies in the past. However, during the redistricting process they demonstrated what is either a callous disregard for the provisions of our Constitution or a level of incompetence unbecoming of any judge. This is an embarrassment to our judiciary.”