This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 19, 2011 - Five judges on Missouri's Court of Appeals are among 13 lawyers and judges applying to succeed retiring state Supreme Court Judge Michael Wolff.
Wolff is retiring Aug. 11 after serving 13 years on the state's highest court. He plans to return to teaching at St. Louis University. The breakdown by the Associated Press of the candidates lists the appeals court candidates as judges "George Draper III, Lisa White Hardwick, Karen King Mitchell, Glenn Norton and Mark Pfeiffer."
The other contenders, says AP, are "trial judge Michael Manners; state Solicitor James Layton; and attorneys Timothy Cisar, Gretchen Garrison, Richard Gartner, Joe Jacobson, Paul Lane and Erwin Switzer."
The judicial-selection commission will choose three proposed nominees from the list, after interviews on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. One of them will be chosen for the bench by Gov. Jay Nixon.
The commission issued a statement earlier Monday listing the demographic and regional information about the candidates:
"There are 13 applicants for the vacancy. Of these, three are women and 10 are men. There are two minority applicants and 11 non-minority applicants. There are nine applicants from the metropolitan Kansas City or St. Louis areas and four from central Missouri. Seven applicants work in the public sector, and six work in the private sector. Of those who work in the private sector, one is from a large firm, while the other five are from solo or smaller-firm law practices. Of those who work in the public sector, six are trial court or appellate court judges. The applicants' mean age is 53."
