The Judicial Commission: Argle-Bargle or Foofaraw?

State and Local Government | July 30, 2007

By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

Bill McClellan has been tremendous with his last two columns in the Post-Dispatch about the Missouri Supreme Court opening and the Missouri non-partisan court plan. Two months ago, I blogged some suggestions for improvements to the court plan, which I think (hope) are worth revisiting. I think the non-partisan court plan should be kept, but the most important change it needs is to make the governor’s selections coincide with the term of the governor, rather than the current six-year staggered term. As I wrote in May, the number of governor appointments should also be increased by one to equal the number of lawyers and judges on each commission. With those changes, I think problems with the current set-up could be well-addressed.

About the Author

David Stokes

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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