Opponents of Improving the Missouri Plan Argue that the selection process is non-partisan.

Despite claims that the current Missouri Plan is non-partisan, decades of manipulation by both Republicans and Democrats demonstrates that it is not truly non-partisan.

In twelve (12) years of Democrat governors, there were five (5) vacancies on the Supreme Court of Missouri. All fifteen (15) of the fifteen (15) possible nominees chosen by the Appellate Judicial Commission to fill the Supreme Court vacancies were Democrats. In 2007, the Democrat-controlled Commission nominated two (2) Democrats and one (1) Republican.

The chance of such a partisan alignment of nominees occurring by coincidence is less than your chances of winning the lottery... twice.

In 1998, a Democrat governor’s General Counsel was appointed to the Supreme Court. Before serving as General Counsel, the judge had campaigned twice for the Democrat nomination for the office of Attorney General, but had no judicial experience.

In 1995, the Democrat Chair of the Missouri House Judiciary Committee was appointed to the Supreme Court. The politician had virtually no judicial experience and had distinguished himself as a partisan fighter.

In 2002, a well-known and well-connected Democrat contributor was appointed to the Supreme Court after serving in high ranking offices of the Missouri Bar.

In 1985, a Republican governor selected his 33-year-old Chief of Staff, after the Commission nominated him at the Governor’s request. He boasted youth and a stellar academic record, but had no judicial experience and virtually no legal experience.

Clearly, the current judicial selection process is rife with opportunity for abuse and cronyism. Unless we inject transparency and accountability at this stage of the process, it will remain corrupt.