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Term of Service on the Supreme Court of Missouri: June 1985-July 1998
Edward D. “Chip” Robertson Jr. was born May 1, 1952,[i] in Durham, North Carolina.[ii] He was raised in Charleston, South Carolina; North Kansas City, Missouri; and the Hickman Mills neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri.[iii] After graduating from Ruskin High School in 1970,[iv] Robertson earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in 1974 from Westminster College in Fulton,[v] before studying at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.[vi]
Robertson then attended law school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, graduating with distinction in 1977.[vii] While studying law, Robertson was an editor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City law review[viii] and earned a scholastic honorary, the Order of Bench and Robe.[ix]
Robertson studied as a Danforth Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1983[x] and received an honorary law degree from Westminster College in 1989.[xi] While serving on the Supreme Court, Robertson received his master of laws degree from the University of Virginia in 1990.[xii]
Robertson began his professional legal career as an assistant attorney general in Missouri, where he served from 1978 to 1979.[xiii] He returned to Kansas City to the private practice of law from 1979 to 1981[xiv] and also worked as a municipal judge in the Kansas City suburb of Belton.[xv] In 1981, Robertson returned to the attorney general’s office to work as the deputy attorney general,[xvi] following the attorney general, John Ashcroft, to the governor’s office in 1985, serving as the governor’s chief of staff.[xvii]
On June 26, 1985, Governor Ashcroft appointed Robertson to the Supreme Court of Missouri[xviii] at the age of 33, making Robertson the youngest judge appointed to the Court in modern times.[xix] Voters retained Judge Robertson in 1986.[xx] He served as chief justice from July 1991 through June 1993.[xxi] During his time on the Court, Robertson authored more than 180 opinions,[xxii] including some of the state’s most influential cases, such as Hammerschmidt v. Boone County and Cruzan v. Harmon.[xxiii] After 13 years on the Supreme Court of Missouri, Robertson resigned on July 15, 1998,[xxiv] and returned to the private practice of law[xxv] with Bartimus, Kavanaugh, Frickleton & Presley in its Jefferson City office.[xxvi]
Robertson has been a member of the Freedom Foundation’s National Awards Jury,[xxvii] the Board of Curators of Westminster College in Fulton,[xxviii] Phi Alpha Delta,[xxix] and the Christian Legal Society. [xxx] He is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, The Missouri Bar, and the American Bar Association.[xxxi]
Robertson was the first sitting judge to receive The Missouri Bar’s President’s Award[xxxii] and received the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Missouri- Kansas City.[xxxiii] He also received the Decade Award from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.[xxxiv] He was selected as an Outstanding Young Man of America[xxxv] and as the Missouri Statesmen of the Year in 1991.[xxxvi]
As of 2018, Robertson continued in the practice of law with Bartimus, Frickleton, Robertson & Rader; he is a partner in the firm’s Jefferson City office.[xxxvii]
[i] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[ii] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[iii] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[iv] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[v] James F. Wolfe, “Ashcroft names aide to Supreme Court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), June 27, 1985.
[vi] Tom Miller, “Ashcroft appoints aide to high court,” The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), June 27, 1985.
[vii] Phillip O’Connor, “Judge says he’ll leave high court,” The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri), July 4, 1998.
[viii] James F. Wolfe, “Ashcroft names aide to Supreme Court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), June 27, 1985.
[ix] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[x] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xi] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xii] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xiii] Kate Szumanski, “Judge Robertson resigns from state Supreme Court,” St. Louis Daily Record (St. Louis, Missouri), July 7, 1998.
[xiv] Tom Miller, “Ashcroft appoints aide to high court,” The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), June 27, 1985.
[xv] Phillip O’Connor, “Judge says he’ll leave high court,” The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri), July 4, 1998.
[xvi] Kate Szumanski, “Judge Robertson resigns from state Supreme Court,” St. Louis Daily Record (St. Louis, Missouri), July 7, 1998.
[xvii] James F. Wolfe, “Author of decision in Cruzan case resigns from court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), July 4 1998.
[xviii] James F. Wolfe, “Author of decision in Cruzan case resigns from court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), July 4 1998.
[xix] Tom Miller, “Ashcroft appoints aide to high court,” The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), June 27, 1985.
[xx] James F. Wolfe, “Author of decision in Cruzan case resigns from court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), July 4 1998.
[xxi] Kate Szumanski, “Judge Robertson resigns from state Supreme Court,” St. Louis Daily Record (St. Louis, Missouri), July 7, 1998.
[xxii] Kate Szumanski, “Judge Robertson resigns from state Supreme Court,” St. Louis Daily Record (St. Louis, Missouri), July 7, 1998.
[xxiii] “Key decisions made by Robertson,” Post-Tribune (Jefferson City, Missouri), July 3, 1998
[xxiv] James F Wolfe, “Author of decision in Cruzan case resigns from court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), July 4 1998.
[xxv] James F. Wolfe, “Author of decision in Cruzan case resigns from court,” The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri), July 4 1998.
[xxvi] Phillip O’Connor, “Judge says he’ll leave high court,” The Kansas City Star, (Kansas City, Missouri), July 4, 1998.
[xxvii] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xxviii] Rebecca McDowell Cook, Secretary of State, Jim Grebing, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1997-1998, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1998), 198
[xxix]Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xxx] “Edward ‘Chip’ Robertson Jr.: Partner- Curriculum Vitae”, Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Rader website, accessed on September 17, 2018, available from: http://bflawfirm.com/edward-chip-robertson-jr, Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxxi] “Edward ‘Chip’ Robertson Jr.: Partner- Curriculum Vitae”, Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Rader website, accessed on September 17, 2018, available from: http://bflawfirm.com/edward-chip-robertson-jr, Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxxii] Bob Watson, “Robertson to leave Missouri Supreme Court,” Post-Tribune, Jefferson City, Missouri. July 3, 1998.
[xxxiii] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xxxiv] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xxxv] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1991-1992, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1992), 166.
[xxxvi] “Edward ‘Chip’ Robertson Jr.: Partner- Curriculum Vitae”, Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Rader website, accessed on September 17, 2018, available from: http://bflawfirm.com/edward-chip-robertson-jr, Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxxvii] “Edward ‘Chip’ Robertson Jr.: Partner- Curriculum Vitae”, Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Rader website, accessed on September 17, 2018, available from: http://bflawfirm.com/edward-chip-robertson-jr, Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
Biographical information authored by Mr. James Anderson, 2018, University of Missouri-Columbia.