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Jefferson City, Mo. — The Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) today formally joined the campaign to defeat Amendment 3, which would allow politicians and their political agendas to control the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. MSBA decided to join Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee (MFICC) to inform voters this fall about the potential harm Amendment 3 would cause to public education by bringing partisan politics into Missouri courts.
“School boards throughout the state have a strong interest in preserving an unbiased court system,” said Dr. Carter Ward, Executive Director of the Missouri School Boards’ Association. “Amendment 3 would introduce a troublesome degree of politics into a system that is working well. MSBA believes this amendment has the potential to make judges beholden to politicians and political agendas.”
The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, which was approved by voters more than 70 years ago, selects judges based on merit and has become a national model for keeping politics out of the judicial selection process. Amendment 3, which will appear on the November ballot in Missouri, 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.
The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, which was approved by voters more than 70 years ago, selects judges based on merit and has become a national model for keeping politics out of the judicial selection process. Amendment 3, which will appear on the November ballot in Missouri, 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 is dangerous to give politicians control of selecting our judges because some of the most important institutions in our state, like our public schools, need to know that our constitution, not political agendas, will guide our system of justice,” said Skip Walther, MFICC Treasurer and former President of the Missouri Bar. “We welcome the Missouri School Boards’ Association to our coalition and look forward to spreading the message far and wide this fall that Missourians should defeat Amendment 3 and keep politics out of our courts and out of our classrooms.”
The Honorary Co-Chairs of Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee are former Missouri Supreme Court judges William Ray Price, Jr., Ronnie L. White, John C. Holstein, Ann K. Covington, Michael A. Wolff and Edward D. “Chip” Robertson, Jr.
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