Indiana Merit Selection and the “Missouri Plan”
May 2, 2012 by Editor
Nationwide, selection of appellate judges typically occurs in one of three ways: contested election, political appointment, or merit selection. The “Missouri Plan,” as merit selection is sometimes referred to, first emerged in 1940 when prominent Missouri citizens1 sought to change the way their judges were selected because of perceived abuses/weaknesses with the other [...]
Mark Massa: 107th Indiana Supreme Court Justice
May 2, 2012 by Editor
The Hon. Mark Massa, formerly the Executive Director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, took the oath of office as Indiana’s 107th Justice on April 2, 2012. The private oath was administered by former Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard, who is now a Senior Judge for the Indiana Court of Appeals. A public, [...]
Supreme Court Welcomes Justice Steven David
December 1, 2010 by Editor
On a bright, sunny Monday with fall in the air, the Indiana Supreme Court Justices welcomed as the court’s newest member former Boone County Circuit Court Judge, Steven David. The one-hour ceremony included remarks by Governor Mitch Daniels and Chief Justice Shepard. The Governor administered the oath of office to Judge David while his [...]
The Role of the Judicial Nominating Commission in Judicial Selection
September 3, 2010 by Editor
With the upcoming vacancy resulting from Justice Theodore R. Boehm’s decision to step down from the Indiana Supreme Court, there exists a renewed interest about how justices are selected to our state’s highest court. In particular, many questions have been posed about the role of the Judicial Nominating Commission in Indiana’s selection process. Given this [...]

