This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 15, 2009 - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has apparently opted to jump into the fray over the state's system for selecting judges.
Bottom line: Nixon, a Democrat and a lawyer, sent out a surprise statement late Friday making clear that he likes the process just the way it is.
That's in contrast with his Republican non-lawyer predecessor, Matt Blunt, who sided with those who wanted an overhaul that would give the governor more say -- and possibly give the state Senate a key role.
But what's notable here is the timing. Nixon chose to weigh in a day after critics of the current system had testified at a state Senate hearing.
UPDATE: Nixon communications director Jack Cardetti maintained Monday that it was purely coincidental that his statement went out soon after that Senate hearing. Cardetti added that Nixon has always backed the Missouri Plan, but did acknowledge that Friday's e-mailed statement was the first on the subject from Nixon since he was sworn in Jan. 12.
In any case -- Nixon's opinion is key, because it sends a signal that he'd veto any bill that the Legislature passes that would change the current setup, known as the Missouri Plan. That means the critics would likely have to hinge their hopes on a vote of the public, by getting their alternative on a statewide ballot. (There's a couple ways to do so that would sidestep the governor.)
Changing the Missouri Plan itself would require a constitutional amendment, which would require a statewide vote.
Nixon issued his statement at the close of business Friday, right after the state Supreme Court and the governor's office had sent out releases announcing that the state's seven-member Appellate Judicial Commission had just sent over to the governor a panel of three potential judicial nominees to fill a vacancy on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.
It's up to the governor to pick one of them. The appointment will be Nixon's first major judicial selection.
The nominees were selected by the seven-member commission, which is made of three people appointed by the governor, three lawyers from the Missouri and headed by the chief justice on the state Supreme Court.
What was unusual was the electronic statement that Nixon chose to swiftly send out late Friday:
“For decades the Missouri nonpartisan court plan has served as a model judicial selection process for states around the country. This method of selecting judges has stood the test of time by minimizing the influence of politics in the administration of justice.
"The individuals whose names I received today are bright, qualified legal minds, and I look forward to interviewing each of these nominees personally. This panel stands as a testament to the fact that the Missouri plan has produced courts that have served the state well for decades, and which should be protected in the future.”
Nixon's comments echoed a show of support a couple weeks ago by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who offered up her generally pro-Missouri Plan views at a conference at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
More notably, Nixon's statement came just a day after various critics addressed the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee.
The panel was conducting a hearing on Senate Joint Resolution 9, sponsored by state Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay. A similar resolution has been introduced in the House. (If passed by both chambers, such a resolution could go straight to the ballot without any action by the governor.)
Lembke has been part of an effort to revamped the Missouri Plan. Various proposals have offered different approaches. Some would give the governor a stronger voice, some would give the Senate veto power, and some call for public access to the records of the commission's interviews with the possible nominees. All would curb the clout of the Missouri Bar, which some conservative Republican critics allege is too liberal and too aligned with Democrats.
Those testifying in favor of the resolution included former Blunt aide James Harris, now executive director for group called Better Courts for Missouri; Dan Pero, president of the American Justice Partnership Foundation, Prof. Stephen Ware, University of Kansas School of Law; Prof. William Eckhardt, University of Missouri – Kansas City; Bev Ehlen, president of the Missouri Chapter of Concerned Women for America and Janet Engelbach, legislative director for Missouri’s Eagle Forum.
Harris said in a statement issued the day of the hearing, “We need to continue the dialogue regarding judicial selection taking place in Missouri now because the process is broken.
"The trial attorneys continue to control the judicial selection process," Harris said. "They have created a niche business for themselves - by presenting their cases before the very same judges they are appointing to the bench, donating to their campaigns – they are a 'special interest' group, looking out only for themselves, not the common good of all Missourians.”
