missouri judges

  Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens says he wants Missouri to change the way it selects judges.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Greitens supports a Tennessee procedure that gives the governor and Legislature more influence in picking judges. He believes the current system gives trial lawyers too much influence on judicial appointments.

Missouri Supreme Court judges say the state doesn't owe two retired judges who later asked for more money based on federal judges' pay.

Missouri's judges could be due a multi-million-dollar pay increase if their counterparts in the federal government win a court case seeking a retroactive pay hike.

The potential pay increase could affect more than 400 judges in Missouri. It even could lead to pay increases for dozens of full-time local prosecutors.

That's because a 2010 decision by a Missouri salary commission links the pay of Missouri judges to that of federal judges. And a separate Missouri law links the salaries of full-time prosecutors to those of associate circuit judges.