Home County: Platte

Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: July 1979 - June 1991

Judge Andrew Jackson Higgins was born and raised in Platte City, Missouri.[i] After graduating from high school, he graduated in 1943 from Central Methodist College (now Central Methodist University) in Fayette, Missouri.[ii] Higgins went back to school at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and, in 1948, was admitted to the bar.[iii] He practiced law in Platte City until 1960.[iv] While practicing law, he also served as a prosecuting attorney for Platte County from 1951-1957.[v] From 1958 to 1960, Higgins served as the mayor of Platte City.[vi]

Judge Higgins was appointed judge of Sixth Judicial Circuit (Platte County) by Governor James T. Blair to serve an unexpired term scheduled to end in 1965.[vii] In 1964, Judge Higgins became a commissioner of the Supreme Court of Missouri.[viii] On July 3, 1979, Judge Higgins was appointed by Governor Joseph P. Teasdale to fill a vacancy as judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri.[ix] He retained his position on the Court in the 1980 retention election and served with the Court until his mandatory retirement in June 1991.[x] Judge Higgins served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1985 to 1987.[xi] He then served as counsel to the Jefferson City, Missouri, law firm of Inglish & Monaco and as a senior judge advisor until his full retirement.[xii]

Judge Higgins was a member of the Academy of Missouri Squires [xiii] and the Missouri, Cole County and American Bar associations.[xiv] Some of his other memberships included the American Judicature Society, the Missouri Institute for Justice and the Advisory Board to the Missouri Division Child Abuse Missouri.[xv] He organized and served as the chairman of the Supreme Court of Missouri Task Force on Permanency Planning for Abused and Neglected Children in 1982 and was a part of the board of directors of Prevent Child Abuse Missouri in 1990.[xvi]

For his professional contributions to various organizations, he was recognized for dedication in serving and received a variety of awards and honors, including: the St. Louis Bar Foundation’s Spirit of Justice Award (2010),[xvii] the American Judicature Society’s Special Merit Citation,[xviii] Lifetime Achievement Award from Missouri CASA (1997),[xix] “a President’s Award for his service as Chairman of the Bar’s Commission on Children and the Law (1996)”[xx], the Andrew Jackson Higgins Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice (1992),[xxi] “outstanding leadership in the implementation of Permanency Planning for abused and neglected children throughout the nation” (1991),[xxii] and the Spurgeon Smithson Award (1990).[xxiii]

Judge Andrew Higgins died September 14, 2011, at the age of 90.[xxiv]