Kenny Hulshof, the Republican candidate for governor, says there is disorder in Missouri’s courts because lawyers who represent people with damage claims control the state’s process of selecting high court judges.

Hulshof, a lawyer and the congressman from the Ninth Congressional District, could cite no example of an out-of-control judge or court, relying on a business group’s claim that Missouri’s courts were in disarray.

"The disorder is that you’ve got a small, very aggressive group in the litigation industry that is determining who is on the judicial panels," Hulshof said in a brief telephone conference call with reporters today.

Hulshof wants to give the governor more control over the process of selecting judges. Lawyers who now screen candidates for the bench would be replaced by retired judges selected at random under Hulshof’s plan. He also suggested that a retired Supreme Court judge be selected at random to lead the nominating commission.

Oren Shur, a spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon, the Democratic candidate for governor, said politics should not be part of the judicial selection process.

"The congressman’s plan would bring more politics into the process, and that’s a clear step in the wrong direction," Shur said.

For more than 60 years, Missouri’s judges for the Supreme Court and appellate courts have been screened by a commission chaired by the high court’s chief justice and made up of lawyers elected by the bar and citizens appointed by the governor. Once the commission nominates a panel of three people for a court vacancy, the governor makes the final selection.

The plan was adopted to replace a system in which judges were elected.

The lawyers on the judicial nominating commission are elected by members of the bar. Hulshof said the plaintiffs’ bar controls the nominating commission and that it picks judges who have created a legal climate in the state that is the nation’s 20th worst system, according to the Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Hulshof proposed a governor could veto two panels submitted to him and then pick a judge on his own who would be subject to Senate confirmation. The governor could not pick a relative or a current or former staff member, or someone who had made a campaign contribution to the governor.

Asked what court or judge had rendered a decision that showed the courts were in disarray, Hulshof said he couldn’t answer.

"As a member in good standing with the Missouri Bar, I don’t think it’s proper that a lawyer criticize a sitting justice," Hulshof said. "I’m not going to cite a case where I felt it was wrongly decided."

Shur said Missouri’s current court plan has served as a model for other states. "It’s unfortunate that Congressman Hulshof wants to repeal the court plan, change the Constitution and give the governor the full power to appoint judges," Shur said. He said Hulshof’s talk of changing judicial selection was an attempt to distract attention from the economic crisis.

"Congressman Hulshof can’t defend his votes in Washington to help big corporations ship Missouri jobs overseas, so he’s desperately trying to turn everyone’s attention to something else," Shur said.

Advertisement

Get your brain and body in shape. Food Wednesdays, Pulse Sundays and Sports daily. 13 weeks of everyday delivery for as little as 29¢ a day. Get the Tribune. Get a lot.