Frequently Asked Questions concerning the "Missouri Plan" and Better Courts for Missouri.
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What is the Missouri Court Plan?
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Is it true that you want to destroy the Missouri Court Plan?
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The Missouri Bar has been circulating a poll indicating most Missourians support the current process for selecting judges. Is this poll accurate?
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The Missouri Bar and its allies claim it would be bad for business if the process for selecting judges were changed. As a small business owner, why should I agree with you and not the Bar?
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The Missouri Bar and a few other attorneys claim you are trying to inject even more politics into the judicial selection process. Is this true?
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Is it true, as several newspapers have written, that you would like to see Supreme Court judges elected, like they are in Illinois?
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What is the big deal? Aren't issues like health care and education more pressing than improvements to the way we pick judges?
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Why should I get involved?
What is the Missouri Court Plan?
The Missouri Court Plan is the nickname of the process for nominating and appointing judges to Missouri's highest courts. Under the Plan, when a judicial vacancy occurs, a seven-member commission nominates three persons to fill that vacancy. The governor must then appoint a judge from that list or the commission appoints for him.
The seven-member nominating commission is, thus, extremely important. It is comprised of three (3) members of the Missouri Bar, (3) laypersons appointed by past and current governors, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
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Is it true that you want to destroy the Missouri Court Plan?
We do not want to destroy the Missouri Court Plan. We are proud that Missouri led the way for the nation more than fifty years ago and look forward to seeing Missouri once again lead the nation by bringing much needed improvements to the Missouri Court Plan. The most important improvements we hope to see are (1) application of Missouri's open records law, the Sunshine Law, to the judicial selection process and (2) the introduction of some measure that makes those who pick our judges truly accountable for their decisions.
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The Missouri Bar has been circulating a poll indicating most Missourians support the current process for selecting judges. Is this poll accurate?
The poll the Missouri Bar has been circulating was biased and misleading. It was commissioned by one of George Soros's liberal special interest groups and the poll questions were terribly misleading, leading readers to believe that the Governor has just as much influence as the Appellate Judicial Commission when it comes to picking judges. Under the current system, the Governor has no choice but to appoint one of the nominees submitted to him by the Commission.
When presented with the truth, polls have shown as much as 60% of Missourians support giving the Governor and the people of Missouri more say in this process.
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The Missouri Bar and its allies claim it would be bad for business if the process for selecting judges were changed. As a small business owner, why should I agree with you and not the Bar?
The Missouri Bar will say whatever it needs to say in order to preserve its power over the current process. The truth is that Missouri's business owners and Missouri's economic climate in general would benefit greatly if this process were reformed. Governor Matt Blunt and the General Assembly have passed important legislation to reduce frivolous lawsuits and make it harder for plaintiffs' lawyers to run Missourians out of business. Unfortunately, that legislation is being steadily eroded by our highest courts, and unless the process for selecting our judges is reformed, these meaningful pieces of legislation will be reversed.
If that is not enough, take it from the American Tort Reform Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who labeled Missouri's Supreme Court a "judicial hellhole" and gave it a "dishonorable mention" for its recent radical decisions. As the U.S. Chamber put it, "An unfair legal system sucks the life out of a state's economy. It affects business expansion, it affects jobs and it takes money out of consumers' pockets."
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The Missouri Bar and a few other attorneys claim you are trying to inject even more politics into the judicial selection process. Is this true?
To the contrary, we hope to diminish the influence of politics over judicial selection. Seventeen of the last eighteen nominees chosen by the Appellate Judicial Commission to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court of Missouri were Democrats. Before that, nominees were overwhelmingly Republican. Many of those nominees had extremely close relationships to the political establishment at the time, including Judge Mike Wolff, who was Counsel to Governor Carnahan, and Chip Robertson, who was Chief of Staff to Governor Ashcroft. It is clear that the current system is as political as it could possibly get.
We believe the judges sitting on our highest courts should be picked on the basis of merit, not on the basis of political affiliation or cronyism. Simply stated, our goal is to improve the Missouri Court Plan by reducing the influence of politics and corruption over the process of selecting judges.
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Is it true, as several newspapers have written, that you would like to see Supreme Court judges elected, like they are in Illinois?
This is perhaps the most dishonest attack the Missouri Bar and others have leveled against reform supporters. While we believe that judges at the local level, who are elected, have done a tremendous job of deciding cases fairly, we do not support elections for judges at the appellate and Supreme Court level.
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What is the big deal? Aren't issues like health care and education more pressing than improvements to the way we pick judges?
Like most Missourians, we too are concerned about the quality of education in Missouri as well as the high cost of health care. And the biggest reason the Missouri Court Plan must be reformed is that Missouri's judges impact virtually every aspect of our lives.
For instance, important tort reform legislation aimed at attracting the highest quality doctors to Missouri, while lowering the cost of health care for everyone, is under serious threat from the plaintiffs' bar. The powerful leadership of the plaintiffs' bar in Missouri have a great financial interest in dismantling this and similar reforms, so they will go to almost any length to ensure that the judges before whom they practice are friendly to their agenda.
Several studies have shown that frivolous lawsuits are increasing the cost of living all over the United States. In fact, a recent study by Missouri law professor William Eckhardt persuasively demonstrated that Missouri's judicial selection process has steadily pushed our own lawsuit climate in a dangerous direction that serves no one but wealthy attorneys. If Missouri is going to continue creating high quality family-supporting jobs, then it is imperative that judges not allow their activist political views get in the way of a healthy job-creating business climate.
Likewise, in the areas of law enforcement, education, immigration and many others, Missourians depend on judges who will interpret the law as it is written instead of legislating from the bench.
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Why should I get involved?
The Missouri Bar and its allies in the plaintiffs' bar have tremendous financial interests in maintaining the status quo. They will spend millions of dollars to ensure the status quo does not change. Already, Missouri Bar and its allies have recruited the help of radical political activist and billionaire George Soros.
If Missourians are going to enjoy the benefits of improvements to the Missouri Court Plan, we will need your support. Please contact us and let us know how you can support our mission.
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