Opponents of Improving the Missouri Plan Argue that the Sunshine Law does NOT apply to the Appellate Judicial Commission.

The Sunshine Law Should Apply to all Government, not just to Parts of Government.

Chief Justice Laura Denvir Stith and other members of the Appellate Judicial Commission have recently argued that a Missouri Supreme Court Rule requires the entire judicial selection process to be conducted in absolute secrecy. They have also maintained that documents and information acquired during the process must not be shared outside of the Commission. Other lawyers and scholars have rightly argued that Missouri's open records law, the Sunshine Law, requires openness in the process for picking appellate and Supreme Court Judges, as that is the only way to guarantee that the most qualified judges (rather than the most connected) end up being nominated.

Opponents of reforming the judicial selection process suggest that the Supreme Court’s internal rules trump the Sunshine Law. But that is not true. The Sunshine Law was adopted after the Supreme Court Rule that opponents cite. Additionally, the Rule failed to exempt the Appellate Judicial Commission from the Sunshine Law. As the Sunshine Law makes clear, doubts in this regard should be construed in favor of government openness.