Free Essay Sample. State Judges

Judges are vital people in the judicial courts. They play varied roles such as interpretation of laws, accessing the evidence presented in court, and controlling the process of the court hearing and trials in the courtroom. They are also impartial decision-makers in the pursuit of justice. Judges do not make themselves judges in the judicial system various systems are used, such use of the Missouri plan or being elected into office by the state governors. This paper will be a discussion of the steps of the Missouri plan, and the benefits of the Missouri plan and respond to a classmate's posting on which method of selecting judges is better between electing and the Missouri plan.

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Missouri plan is a process of choosing juries that started in the state of Missouri as well as has been implemented by the U.S jurisdictions. In 1940 Missouri made a change from being a partisan event main and appointment scheme to an independent network of its judiciary. The independent system syndicates the greatest essentials of equally appointive and voting system, providing safeguards lacking in any of the systems. No magistrate beneath the Missouri plan can make any involvement to a governmental event or hold any office in it as well as taking part in any political campaign.

Under this plan, the assortment is completed by the Governor's selection from the list of three names succumbed to him by the assortment commission. The selection committee for the Appellate courts is made up of the chief justice of the Supreme Court as the chairman, three lawyers who have been elected by the Bar and three non-specialists who are appointed by the governor. Except for the chief justice, the other members serve for a six-year term. The members are not entitled to succeed themselves.

The second step of Missouri, after the appointment of the judge from the list that was submitted, after serving for one year the people vote in the next general election following service for a year, upon the question if or not the judge will have another regular term. Thereafter, a judge must submit his declaration of desiring other term after being given a full time after his term of service have expired and people will be required to vote ( Hyde, 1948). Likewise, all judges who are in office at the time of amendment needed to be voted by people when their term of service expires. During the election, the name of the judge is placed on judicial ballots that are separate without designating the party. People vote by scratching one answer and leaves the other. If the majority of the voters vote against retaining, the judge is removed from office, and the process is repeated. If they vote in favor of maintaining the judge, the judge will serve for another full term.

There are various benefits of the Missouri plan such as the election of judges into the office is free and fair because citizens are allowed to vote for the judges who get the chance to have a place in the bench. Also, the judge under this plan has no competitor. Courts that have limited jurisdiction include municipal, county and probate o peace courts.in 1845 when Texas became the governor was appointed state judges with the consent of the country, but from 1845 all levels of courts have been elected by people in partisan elections. The terms to be served by these judges vary and at the end of their terms, judges must re-run for re-election. In Texas, judges are elected unlike the United States of America, which uses the Missouri plan. The constitution of Texas provides for the election of state judges (Champagne, 1986). Though, the governor has the role of appointing district and appellate judges to vacant positions. I tend to agree with the post of my classmate concerning the best method of choosing judges, which is through election because, through the Missouri plan, it is subjected to excessive influence by the attorney generals. Voting is the best method since there is no process of shortlisting which may be biased to some people.

In conclusion, the plan is a type of commission selection in which a commission made up of lay people, judges and lawyers prepare a list of judicial nominees for the governor. The governor selects appointees from the list. After a year the judge runs for office in a retention election. The judge has no opponent. Yes or no method of voting is used. If the judge is retained, he takes office. While election like the case of Texas may be the partisan or nonpartisan election of judges. Elections allow well-informed voters to make informed choices between judges competing.

References

Champagne, A. (1986). The selection and retention of judges in Texas. SW LJ, 40, 53.Retrieved from https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/smulr40&section=68

Hyde, L. M. (1948). Missouri Plan for Selection and Tenure of Judges. J. Crim. L. & Criminology, 39, 277.Retrieved from https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/jclc39&section=47