List of Missouri Judges - 2004 Election

Please find enclosed a comprehensive state-wide list of judges who are up for retention on the bench. I've also enclosed an excellent article written by Jim Cole, General Counsel for Missouri Right to Life explaining the judicial process. Please send this out to all your friends and family here in Missouri!

PS You might want to obtain a SAMPLE ballot from your local election authority or newspaper and have it filled out before you enter the polling booth.

PS For more information on Missouri Judges please contact The Constitutional Coalition, Front Line Voter's Guide, PO Box 37054, St. Louis, Mo 63141 or call 636-386-1789.

Judging the Judges
October, 2004
Jim Cole, General Counsel, Missouri Right to Life
http://www.missourilife.org
http://www.missourilife.org/mrl_pac/judge_ballot.pdf

Judges who are up for retention or election are state judges, not federal judges. Federal judges are never on the ballot.

All state appellate judges (those who preside in the Missouri Supreme Court and the Missouri Court of Appeals) will, at appropriate intervals, face a retention question on the ballot, such as, "Shall Judge X of the Y Court be retained in office?" In the two major cities and related counties, trial judges (circuit judges and associate circuit judges) are also subject to retention questions on the ballot. Trial judges in other counties of Missouri run for election on the ballot under party labels.

There are few, if any, reliable sources of information on the beliefs of individual state judges on life issues. Decisions on life issue are extremely rare in state courts. One will search the law books in vain for published decisions that indicate anything about most state judges' philosophies on life issues.

Furthermore, one cannot survey judges and candidates for judgeships to discover what they think on the life issues. There is a canon of judicial ethics that forbids judges from "announc[ing] views on disputed legal issues." Although a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that this canon violates the First Amendment, the Missouri Supreme Court has announced that it will consider that decision to apply only to judicial elections where there are actual contests. In practice, then, appellate judges, metropolitan trial judges, and most other judges are still forbidden by the canon from responding to surveys on contested legal questions. If Missouri Right to Life sent surveys to judges, most the judges would be forbidden by current law from answering.

One might question whether any judge or candidate for a judgeship would answer a survey of this type, even if it was allowed. Probably, most would not.

Therefore it is quite difficult to evaluate judges in the manner that legislative candidates are rated. A different approach, using a rule of thumb, appears to be the best that pro-lifers can do.

For judges on retention ballots, one should consider which governor first appointed the incumbent to the bench. If it was Governor Carnahan or Holden, it is more probable than not that the judge is pro-abortion. If the judge was first appointed by Governor Ashcroft, Bond, or Teasdale, it is more probable than not that the judge is pro-life. The rule is "rough justice" at best, and it may perhaps be unfair to one or another individual judge, but it is the only indicator of a state judge's philosophy on life issues that is available at the present time.

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2004 Comprehensive state-wide list of appellate judges, circuit judges and associate circuit judges up for retention on the bench:

Circuit Judge - Circuit 11, Division 1
Ted House - Democrat
Matthew Thornhill - Republican

Circuit Judge - Circuit 11, Division 2
Nancy L. Schneider - Republican
Michael E. Carter - Write-In Candidate

Circuit Judge - Circuit 20, Division 2
Stan Williams - Democrat
Cynthia Marie (Cindy) Eckelkamp - Republican

Circuit Judge - Circuit 25, Division 2
Mary W. Sheffield - Democrat
Bill Hickle - Republican

Circuit Judge - Circuit 26, Division 2
John Walker - Democrat
Greg Kays - Republican
Mary Clare McWilliams - Libertarian

Circuit Judge - Circuit 32, Division 2
John P. Heisserer - Democrat
Ben Lewis - Republican

Court of Appeals - Eastern District
Clifford H. Ahrens - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991
Kathianne Knaup Crane - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1990
Patricia L. Cohen - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2003
Booker T. Shaw - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002
Glenn A. Norton - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002

Court of Appeals - Southern District
John E. Parrish - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1990
James K. Prewitt - Appointed by Gov. Bond, 1979
Kenneth W. Shrum - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1990

Court of Appeals - Western District
Patricia Breckenridge - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1990
Paul Michael Spinden - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991

Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 7 (Clay County)
Michael J. Maloney - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1996

Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 16 (Jackson County)
Sandra C. Midkiff - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002
Charles Emmert Atwell - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1996
Edith L. Messina - Appointed by Gov. Bond, 1984
Jay A. Daugherty - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991
Kathleen A. Forsyth - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2003

Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 21 (St. Louis County)
Carolyn C. Whittington - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2001
Barbara W. Wallace - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1995
James R. Hartenbach - Appointed by Gov. Bond, 1983
Larry L. Kendrick - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991
Melvyn W. Wiesman - Appointed by Gov. Teasdale, 1979

Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 22 (City of St. Louis)
Lisa S. Van Amburg - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2003
Philip D. Heagney - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1996
Dennis M. Schanmann - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1997
Angela Turner Quigless - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2003
Mark H. Neill - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002
David C. Mason - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991
Thomas J. Frawley - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991

Associate Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 6 (Clay County)
Gary D. Witt - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1998

Associate Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 7 (Clay County)
Janet L. Sutton - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2003

Associate Circuit Judge - Circuit No.16 (Jackson County)
Robert Beaird - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002
Vernon Scoville - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991
Robert L. Trout - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1987

Associate Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 21 (St. Louis County)
Mary Bruntrager Schroeder - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1999
Thea A. Sherry - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1998
Gloria C. Reno - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002
John Essner - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1999
Ellen Levy Siwak - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2002
Sandra Farragut-Hemphill - Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft, 1991

Associate Circuit Judge - Circuit No. 22 (City of St. Louis)
Calea Stovall-Reid - Appointed by Gov. Holden, 2003
Edward Sweeney - Appointed by Gov. Carnahan, 1997

Sorry this is so sloppy. First time posting and not much time, but need to get this information out to Missourians. I do not have a link for the body of this letter as it was in a Missouri Right to Life Mailer, but the list is on their website.

1 posted on 10/28/2004 2:11:38 PM PDT by PreviouslyA-Lurker

Missouri ping!

2 posted on 10/28/2004 2:13:36 PM PDT by PreviouslyA-Lurker (Some people don't understand that being an American is more than living in America.)

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