November 3rd ballots across Missouri will feature judges that are up for retention. Missouri judges are periodically assessed by the Judicial Performance Review Committee.
That group consists of lawyers and former judges selected by the Missouri Bar who are
tasked with evaluating judges on merit and professionalism. Those on the ballot range from appellate court judges to trial judges.
This year’s committee chair is Springfield attorney Debbie Dodge. She explains what they look for during the evaluation.
"The first factor is, essentially, does the judge decide cases based upon the established facts and applicable law? which is really the foundation of judging," she said. "So, the question's not whether or not a person likes one particular outcome or not, it's basically does this judge routinely decide the case based upon the facts presented by the parties and applying the governing law that exists at the time? And one way we do that is that we review opinions that are submitted to us in the process."
Other factors they look at are whether the judge explains directions clearly and whether the judge exhibits proper courtroom demeanor.
Judges are not allowed to campaign for retention. Dodge said, according to Missouri Supreme Court guidelines, the Missouri Bar provides funding for the evaluation committee.
She said they try to make the process as fair as possible.
"In the judicial performance review process, to ensure that there's really no bias or prejudice, what we do is we do not know the names of the individual judges up for retention when we are performing our evaluation," she said. "We do not know what area of the state they are coming from."
She said Missouri’s law requiring a vote for retention of judges allows for voter accountability.
You can review the committee’s evaluation at yourmissourijudges.org.