House Joint Resolution 66 (summary) would allow individual circuits to choose the method of judicial appointments by initiative petition not more than once every four years. Voters will have the option of filling circuit can fill judicial vacancies by:

1. Election using a nonpartisan ballot process;
2. Election using a partisan ballot process;
3. Appointment by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate; or
4. Appointment by the Governor from a panel of candidates nominated by a judicial commission which is organized to select the panel.

The Bar opposes House Joint Resolution 66 because it would "undo the Missouri court system as we know it" and "subject judges to arbitrary and capricious removal." Restructuring the judicial nominating commission would "upset[] the current balance" and allowing voters to "choose between four different methods of judicial selection every 10 years adds to the utter chaos that implementation of House Joint Resolution No. 66 would create."

Read the Missouri Bar's full position on HJR 66.