Judges

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Every year while I was in the legislature, the Archbishop of the St. Louis Archdiocese invited me and my family to attend the Red Mass. This is a picture of me with one of my favorite judges, Dan Pelican, and his wife after a Red Mass in St. Louis.

 

We should be satisfied that we get to vote on whether to retain them, but what good is a vote when it’s so hard to know what we are getting?   Because of their “professional courtesy”, most judges won’t even offer their thoughts about other judges.  It’s nearly impossible to make an informed decision.

As a result, the vast majority of the judges are retained, regardless of their behavior.  For a judge to be removed from the bench would take a scandal so big, we would hear about it for weeks on the nightly news. Since Missouri developed it’s non-partisan court plan only two justices have ever been removed.

The Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan allows the Governor to appoint judges and the people can vote every 12 years on whether they should be retained of not.  The people in our state don’t have an opportunity to select our judges.  It might sound like a great idea on paper, but when a system removes the selection process from the people, we lose a slice of our power.

Most of the time when the voters are confronted with a candidate or issue they don’t understand, they will vote for it anyway.  The default position should be to vote no unless the candidate or issue earns our votes.

In discussions with other leaders of the Conservative movement, we conclude it’s best to vote against all of them unless there is one reason why one is especially good.   Here’s a video that explains it.

We want judges who are constitutional.  Therefore, using a rating system from the legal bar association is of no help because they don’t apply any standard for constitutional adherence.  Most lawyers tend to lean to the left, so the approval from their colleagues of the bar association only tells us the names of their friends.   The only way to judge the judges is to look at court decisions, which would require one to sit in their courtrooms nearly all the time.

The League of Women Voters put together a handy sample ballot here:

I cannot support the retention of Supreme Court Justice Richard Teitelman because of he has a history of taking distinctly left-wing positions, especially when it involved homosexual perversion.  However, last time he was up for a retention vote, the voters sent him back regardless.

I am voting to retain Philip Hess because he took a correct position on child pornography.  However, we know nothing about James Dowd.   It is possible for a left-leaning governor to appoint someone who rules with Constitutional restraints, but unless we sat in the judge’s courtroom every day, it would be nearly impossible to determine that.

If you missed our analysis of Ballot Issues last week and want to catch it again, click here:

You will be inspired to hear Candidate for Governor, Les Turilli.  We did an interview with him on Home Front.  He left me inspired by how he is unafraid and unashamed of his faith.

What are your thoughts on the judges?  Let me know by leaving a comment below.

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Podcast

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A Thought to Ponder…

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4 Comments

  • James

    I always vote NO on retaining judges, unless a name appears I’m familiar with who acted impartially and was fair…usually not the case, most are arrogant and insensitive, acting as elitist as politicians IMO & experience in courts

  • George Thompson

    Lacking any other conservative information, I check who appointed the judge. If he/she was appointed by a democrat, I vote against retention.

  • Art LeBeau

    Another interesting article Cynthia but I disagree as to Judge Teitelman and my reason is: I am not an attorney, however I argued a case before the Mo Supreme Court and I won it. Judge Teitelman congratulated me and spoke very encouragingly to the entire court and I appreciated it Overall I am not completely in favor of the retention system.

    You readers have heard about Judge Mennemeyer from Lincoln County being suspended. I am also filing a complaint about a judge in Franklin County to the Discipline Commission. The problem for pro-se litigants and the public in general as they do not get involved. However I have for over 60 yrs of my 82 on this earth, and at times I question all the time I put into reform. My encouragement is my prayers to our Lord Jesus

    Most judges today do not follow what is justice — they worry too much about past cases and no fortitude to do their job. Then lawyers won’t help unless you pay them a ton of money. Sorry I went on so long, but this is a subject I am knowledgeable about and have a passion for true justice.

  • Art LeBeau

    Cynthia I am going to “freeload” and use your comment section to ask readers to become involved in the Jeffrey Weinhaus case (Bulletinman) who was shot by the MO Hwy Patrol because he was out spoken and Gov Nixon and Judge Kelly Parker did not like Jeff exposing some things. If you can give for an attorney please do — it could be you are me getting shot for expressing our beliefs. Long story. You can email me for details. Cynthia if you wish to remove my email I abide by your decision. We need to be active

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