The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan: The Least Political Method of Selecting High Quality Judges (Symposium: Mulling over the Missouri Plan: A Review of State Judicial Selection and Retention Systems‪)‬

I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE THREE PRIMARY METHODS OF JUDICIAL SELECTION IN THE UNITED STATES According to Justice Steven Breyer, "the reputation and the reality of the fairness and effectiveness of the American judicial system are in the hands of the states." (1) In the laboratory of American democracy, each sovereign state has the freedom to design the method by which members of its judiciary are chosen. The unique history, culture and experiences of each state have led to the adoption of a variety of systems to select judges. These methods generally fall into one of three categories: contested election, political appointment, or merit selection.