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.