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The Missouri Plan (originally the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan), also known as the merit plan, is a method for the selection of judges currently used in 11 U.S. states as well as in many other countries. Many other states use a variant of it.^{citation needed}

The Missouri Plan is a method to combine election and appointment of judges.^{citation needed} Under the plan, candidates for judicial vacancies are first selected by lawyer-dominated commissions from all available applicants for that position.^{citation needed} Three (3) names are forwarded to the governor who has sixty days to select one.^{citation needed} If the governor does not select one of the three to fill the position within those sixty days, the committee will then make the selection.^{citation needed} At the general election soonest after the completion of one year service, the judge must stand in a "retention election".^{citation needed} If a majority vote against retention, the judge is removed from office, and the process starts anew^[1].

History and spread of the plan

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Missouri voters adopted the system by initiative petition in November 1940 after several very contentious judicial elections, which were heavily influenced by the political machine of Tom Pendergast.^{citation needed} Most low-level judges in Missouri are elected, except in Kansas City and St. Louis, where the Missouri Plan is mandated by the state constitution for all judicial vacancies.^{citation needed} After Missouri adopted this method for selecting judges, several other states adopted it, either in full or in part.^{citation needed} The plan was put forth by a committee chaired by Jefferson National Expansion Memorial "founder" Luther Ely Smith.^[2]

The 12 states currently using the Missouri Plan are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.^{citation needed} Tennessee uses a modified version of the Missouri Plan called the Tennessee Plan. Florida also uses a complex, modified version of the Missouri Plan.^{citation needed}

The Missouri Plan is not without critics. There are several alternative ways of filling judicial posts which are used in other states. These include direct elections (either partisan or non-partisan), election by the state legislature, or appointment by the governor with advice and consent of the state senate. Missouri had previously used all of these methods before developing the Nonpartisan Court Plan in 1940.^{citation needed}

External links

Explanations of the Missouri Plan

• Info from the Missouri Judiciary
• Voting for Missouri's Judges - From Missouri Bar Association

Pro-Missouri Plan links

• Let the People Judge the Judges: Reforming Virginia's Judicial Selection Process
• Judges and elections are not always a good mix
• Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts

Anti-Missouri Plan links

• Minnesota Judicial Elections: Better Than the "Missouri Plan"

References

1. ^ "Nonpartisan Court Plan". Missouri Judicial Web site (June 28, 2007).
2. ^ Luther Ely Smith: Founder of a Memorial - nps.gov - Retrieved January 12, 2008