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State senator wants new judicial panel election process

Jonathunder
/
Wikimedia commons

Some Missouri lawmakers are making a renewed push to change the way appellate judges are selected.

The new effort comes as some lawmakers are venting their frustration about the way in which a judicial panel redrew the state House and Senate districts last year. The panel deliberated in secret, and some lawmakers aren't pleased with the new maps.

Republican Senator Kevin Engler of Farmington, says the judicial panel seemed to disregard the importance of the legislative election process. He says it is therefore appropriate to change the way in which judges are nominated. One proposal would add more citizens — instead of attorneys or judges — to the panels that recommend judicial nominees to the governor. The Missouri Bar says that proposed change could inject more politics into the process.

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