Keywords
Politics, Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, Missouri Plan, judiciaries
Abstract
Today, the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan-known informally as the "Missouri Plan"-informs the judicial selection processes in 38 of the 50 states. Put simply, the Plan operates through a nonpartisan commission that produces a list of potential judges to fill judicial vacancies. The state's governor then selects from the commission's list when making judicial appointments. After one year of service, the judges' names are then placed on a nonpartisan and noncompetitive retention ballot, in which the voters simply select whether the judge will retain his or her position or be removed. Despite its ubiquity, scholars have paid very little attention to the Missouri Plan's development. The sparse scholarship that does consider the Plan typically only analyzes the types of judges it produces or points to its inadequacies.
Recommended Citation
Baldwin, Grant
(2022)
"The Politics of Removing Politics from the Bench: The Development of Missouri's Nonpartisan Court Plan,"
The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 51:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol51/iss1/8
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Religion Commons