Judicial panel names Mo. Supreme Court finalists

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt will have three state appeals court judges to choose from when making his first appointment to the Missouri Supreme Court.

A special judicial selection panel late Wednesday recommended Eastern District appellate Judge Nannette Baker along with Patricia Breckenridge and Ronald Holliger, both of whom are judges on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

The Appellate Judicial Commission met privately Tuesday and Wednesday to interview applicants to succeed Judge Ronnie White, who resigned from the Supreme Court on July 6 to join a private law practice in St. Louis.

Blunt must choose from the list the panel submitted. If he makes no selection within 60 days, the panel would select the new judge.

Baker, 49, of St. Louis, was appointed as a circuit judge in November 1999 by Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan and elevated to the appeals court in November 2004 by Democratic Gov. Bob Holden. She got her law degree from St. Louis University in 1994.

Breckenridge, 53, of Nevada, Mo., was appointed as an associate circuit judge in January 1982 by Republican Gov. Kit Bond and appointed to the appeals court in December 1990 by Republican Gov. John Ashcroft. She got her law degree in 1977 from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Holliger, 61, of Blue Springs, was appointed by Carnahan as a circuit judge in 1995 and as an appeals court judge in January 2000. He received his law degree in 1973 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Blunt, a Republican, has regularly bemoaned "activist" judges, whose rulings he believes go beyond interpreting state laws to essentially imposing laws. He also has expressed displeasure with some candidates recommended by judicial selection panels for other court vacancies.

"I am committed to appointing a Missouri Supreme Court judge who will faithfully interpret our constitution and will not legislate from the bench," Blunt said when White announced in May that he would resign.

White was the first and only black member of the Missouri Supreme Court. Baker is the only black nominee among the three finalists.

The judicial selection commission does not release the names of the other applicants. But the Supreme Court did release some demographics about the pool of contenders.

The court said 30 people applied for the vacancy, including 23 men and seven women. Of those, it said four were black, one was of Asian descent and 25 were non-minorities. There were 10 applicants who work in the private sector, 18 from the public sector and two who work in both, the court said. The median age of the applicants was 52.

The seven-member commission recommends candidates to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court or the three regional appeals courts. A similar approach is used for circuit courts in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. After their appointments, the judges stand for retention elections in which they are the only candidates on the ballot.