Missouri Supreme Court’s latest members face retention votes. Discover their journey and potential impact on the state’s judiciary system.
The Missouri Supreme Court’s two newest members – who both recently sought to block voters from deciding whether to enshrine reproductive rights in state constitution – will be up for retention votes on Nov. 5 to determine if they get to keep their jobs.
Judge Kelly Broniec wrote the dissenting opinion in a lawsuit abortion rights opponents brought in a last-ditch attempt to keep the measure off the ballot. Judge Ginger Gooch, who like Broniec was appointed to the court just over a year ago by Republican Gov. Mike Parson, was one of two other judges who joined the opinion.
The dissenters said Amendment 3 shouldn’t go to voters because its sponsors didn’t comply with a technical statutory requirement that had never previously been applied to initiative petitions proposing constitutional amendments, ignoring longstanding Supreme Court precedent that such requirements cannot frustrate the constitutional right to the initiative. The court’s four-judge majority in the case cleared the measure for the ballot in accordance with precedent.
Under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, the governor appoints appellate judges from a list of three finalists selected by the constitutionally independent Appellate Judicial Commission. Appointees must stand for retention at the next general election after serving for a full year and then every 12 years thereafter. Judges in retention elections don’t face opponents, with voters merely marking their ballots “yes” or “no” on whether a given judge should remain on the bench. In the more than eight decades since Missouri adopted this system, voters have yet to remove an appellate judge, although a few trial-level judges have been voted out.
Five judges are on the retention ballot in the 25 counties under the jurisdiction of the St. Louis-based Court of Appeals Eastern District. Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, appointed Judges Robert Clayton III and Gary Gaertner Jr., and voters previously retained both in 2012. Judges Cristian Stevens, Renée Hardin-Tammons and Michael Wright are all Parson appointees standing for their first retention votes.
In the 45 counties covered by the Kansas City-based Court of Appeals Western District, voters will consider retention for three judges. Two – Judges Cynthia Lynette Martin and Gary Witt – were appointed by Nixon and previously retained in 2012. Parson appointed the third, Judge Janet Sutton, in late 2021.
Two judges are up for retention in the Springfield-based Court of Appeals Southern District, which covers 44 counties. They are Judges Jennifer Growcock and Becky Borthwick, both recent Parson appointees.
Several circuit and associate circuit judges also are up for retention this year in the six judicial circuits under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, those covering Clay, Greene, Jackson, Platte and St. Louis counties, plus St. Louis city. Judges in other Missouri counties run in traditional partisan elections. Circuit judges serve six-year terms, while associates get four-year terms.
An Insight into Missouri Supreme Court Justice Retention by State Rep. Kimberly Collins
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