Frustrated by Losses in the Courts, Missouri Republicans Want to Change How Top Judges Are Selected by Jeremy Kohler October 15, 2026, 5:00 am

Frustrated by Losses in the Courts, Missouri Republicans Want to Change How Top Judges Are Selected For 86 years, Missouri has held on to a nonpartisan system of selecting its top judges. But after the state Supreme Court overruled the GOP’s redistricting push, some Republican lawmakers are calling for the system to be overturned. by Jeremy Kohler October 15, 2026, 5:00 am https://www.propublica.org/article/missouri-plan-judge-selection-republican-attacks?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary For 86 years, Missouri has held on to a nonpartisan system of selecting its top judges. Under what has come to be known as the Missouri Plan, lawyers help to choose candidates from which the governor then must make court appointments. But after the state Supreme Court overruled the GOP’s recent redistricting plan — which was undertaken at Trump’s behest — some Republican lawmakers are calling for the system to be overturned. Whether there’s enough support to repeal the state’s judicial selection system remains to be seen. Any change would ultimately have to be approved by the voters. The drama in Missouri has played out as Republicans in the state — and elected officials nationwide — have sought to weaken institutions that limit their power. In North Carolina, the Republican-dominated General Assembly stripped authority from Democratic governors. In Wisconsin, Republicans threatened to impeach a newly elected Supreme Court justice to protect gerrymandered maps. And in New York, Democrats bypassed an independent commission to pass a gerrymander that favored them, but the state’s highest court struck it down.