Another chapter has begun in the continuing saga of a misguided few who are trying to tear down Missouri’s celebrated non-partisan plan for selecting judges.
Under the existing system, applicants for open seats on the state’s appellate courts, including the Supreme Court,…
It’s right out of a John Grisham novel:
A company owned by a coal tycoon is sued for illegally destroying a rival business — and gets whacked by a jury. The verdict comes in at $50 million, plus punitive damages. When the case…
T.J."Boss Tom" Pendergast used to decide who'd become a judge in Missouri. Should we bring back those golden days? (Photo © The State Historical Society of Missouri)
The Missouri Legislature once again is considering fixing something that isn’t broken: the state’s nonpartisan…
Enemies of an independent judiciary in Missouri are at it again. Measures have been filed in the Missouri House and Senate seeking to gut the state’s non-partisan judicial appointment process and render it little more than a political sham.
The state’s current…
In November, voters in Greene County, which encompasses most of metropolitan Springfield, Mo., decided to abandon the practice of electing circuit court judges in partisan elections. County voters opted to join the state’s Non-Partisan Merit Selection Court Plan, known as…
A few years ago, a group calling itself the American Tort Reform Foundation — a business trade association working to limit the power of juries to award damages against business and industry — came up with an ingenious gimmick: The…
An Election Day story with a happy ending has received little coverage in this part of the state. It deserves more.
On Nov. 4, voters in Greene County — the state’s 31st Judicial Circuit — approved a…
St. Louis County Courthouse. J.B. Forbes/Post-Dispatch
There’s been much bellyaching in recent years, mainly from hard-core conservatives, about how judges are selected in Missouri.
Under the pioneering program acclaimed nationally as the “Missouri Plan,” state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges are…
