High court selection process raises controversy

By Greg Young

Published Sept. 5, 2008

The Appellate Judicial Commission has nominated three judges to replace Stephen Limbaugh, Jr., on the Missouri Supreme Court.

The three judges nominated are Lisa White Hardwick, a Kansas City native and a Harvard graduate who has served on the appeals court for seven years; Ronald Holliger, another Kansas City native who has served eight years on the appeals court and five years as a circuit judge; and Zel Fischer, who has a law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Limbaugh left the seat after being nominated by President George Bush to serve on a federal court.

Because of the merit selection process Missouri has for appointing judges, Gov. Matt Blunt must select one of the three judges within 60 days or the Appellate Judicial Commission will make the choice for him.

Of the three judges, Holliger and Hardwick are considered moderately liberal, while Fischer is regarded as moderately conservative.

One of the questions that will plague the process is whether Blunt is satisfied with the nominees.

The last time a judge was replaced on the state's highest court, Blunt was public about his unhappiness of the three choices, believing none of them conservative enough for his standards. He ended up choosing judge Patricia Breckenridge.

So far, Blunt has not revealed his opinion about the three nominees, only acknowledging he has received the picks and has began reviewing their credentials.

"Throughout the interview process, we will look at their credentials and what they will bring to the Supreme Court," Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said. "The governor is committed to an open and transparent process and he has begun his review of the candidates."

There have also been questions raised about whether the merit selection process is a fair system to select judges for the court. An issue raised is the secrecy in which the nominees are selected, and the lack of power elected officials have in choosing nominees.

Better Courts for Missouri is an advocacy group against the selection process.

"Once Judge Limbaugh leaves the Missouri's Supreme Court, however, we will not have the luxury of replacing him with the same kind of strong judge unless we change the current system for selecting judges," a statement from the organization said. "Why? Because Missouri's process for selecting judges has been abused so that our state's highest judges are being hand-picked in secret by unaccountable trial lawyers."