20 July 2018
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Pursuant to Rule 10.28(d), the Appellate Judicial Commission announces the following demographic information relating to applicants for the vacancy on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, created by the March 2018 retirement of Judge James E. Welsh.
There are 15 applicants for the vacancy. Five are women; there are no minority applicants. Eleven are from outside the Kansas City metropolitan area. Thirteen applicants work in the public sector, one works in the private sector and one works in both. Of those in the private sector, one works in a solo or small-firm practice. Of those in the public sector, seven are trial court judges. The applicants' mean age is 51.2 years.
Rule 10.28(d) permits the commission to select from among all a vacancy’s applicants those it wishes to interview. Historically, names of those being considered for a judicial vacancy were not released to the public; effective September 2010, the Supreme Court of Missouri changed rule 10 to permit the judicial commissions to release the names of those individuals being interviewed. For the Welsh vacancy, the commission announces it has chosen to interview all 15 applicants:
|
Shane T. Alexander |
Thomas N. Chapman |
|
Jacqueline A. Cook |
Ellen H. Flottman |
|
W. Ann Hansbrough |
Douglas B. Harris |
|
Shaun J. Mackelprang |
Tracey A. Mason-White |
|
James R. McAdams |
Joseph D. McGaugh |
|
Terrence M. Messonnier |
Jeff A. Mittelhauser |
|
Jeremiah J. Morgan |
Cheryl A. Caponegro Nield |
|
W. Douglas Thomson |
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The commission is expected to conduct interviews from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, August 8 at the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, 1300 Oak Street in Kansas City. The public is invited to attend and observe interviews. The commission is expected to meet at the completion of the interviews to select the three nominees from this applicant pool for the governor's consideration.
Chief Justice Fischer said he was “not surprised” by the number and demographics of applicants.
“It has been and continues to be my personal opinion that the decision to make public the names of those being interviewed and the interviews themselves reduces the number of applicants,” he explained. “This is true for judges who may be facing reelection in their local communities, attorneys in private practice who may fear losing clientele, and prosecutors or public defenders who may be concerned about not appearing fully committed to those they serve.”
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Contact: Beth S. Riggert
Communications Counsel
Supreme Court of Missouri
(573) 751-3676