MFICC Announces Opposition to Amendment 3, Which Would Allow Politicians to Control the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan

Originally posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

Former Supreme Court Judges Price, White, Holstein, Covington, Wolff and Robertson Warn Missourians against Allowing Politics into Missouri Courts

Springfield, Mo. — A group of retired judges, business leaders and community leaders today announced their opposition to a constitutional amendment that would allow politicians and their political agendas to control the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. The group, Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee (MFICC), will educate voters this fall on why putting politicians in charge of Missouri’s judicial selection process is dangerous because it brings partisan politics into the one branch of government where it has been held at bay.

The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan was approved by voters more than 70 years ago and has served as a national model for selecting judges. This system, often referred to as The Missouri Plan, is now used by more than half of the states in the nation after Missouri pioneered this innovative way of selecting judges based on merit and not politics or partisanship.

Amendment 3, which will appear on the November ballot, removes the nonpartisan and nonpolitical elements of the current plan by giving Missouri governors the power to handpick a majority of the commission that selects appellate nominees. It also, for the first time, lets the governor appoint all lawyers to the commission by removing the current requisite that the governor’s appointees be nonlawyers.

“Seventy years ago voters decided that it was time to keep politics out of our courtrooms and allow the rule of law, not political agendas, to guide the administration of  justice in Missouri,” said recently retired Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ray Price, who was appointed by Republican Gov. John Ashcroft. “At a time when there is simply too much politics in government, Missouri’s voters should reject this attempt to discard our nonpartisan system for selecting judges.” 

MFICC members also noted that Amendment 3 would make judges beholden to partisan politicians as opposed to the current Nonpartisan Court Plan, which selects judges based on merit, not politics or partisanship. The proposed constitutional changes would also move Missouri to a system that much more closely resembles how judges are selected in Washington, D.C.
“Those of us in the business community want a justice system that is fair, impartial and predictable because it eliminates, as much as possible, politics in the selection of our judges. If Amendment 3 passes, all future governors will have virtual control over the appointment of appellate judges in Missouri. I hope business leaders will join with me in opposing Amendment 3,” said Jack Stack, President and CEO of SRC Holdings Corporation.

The Honorary Co-Chairs of Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee are:

• Former Supreme Court Judge William Ray Price, Jr., appointed by Republican Governor John Ashcroft.
• Former Supreme Court Judge Ronnie L. White, appointed by Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan.
• Former Supreme Court Judge John C. Holstein, appointed by Republican Governor John Ashcroft.
• Former Supreme Court Judge Ann K. Covington, appointed by Republican Governor John Ashcroft.
• Former Supreme Court Judge Michael A. Wolff, appointed by Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan.
• Former Supreme Court Judge Edward D. “Chip” Robertson, Jr., appointed by Republican Governor John Ashcroft.