Voters have crushed a proposal to change Missouri’s non-partisan system for selecting higher-court judges.   But supporters of the idea have indicated they’re going to try again from a different direction. 

And when they do  they’ll run into fierce opposition from the Missouri Bar, again. 

Amendment 3 did not carry a single county last Tuesday.  Its defeat might have been the worst defeat of a proposed constitutional change in Missouri history; it got only 26% of the vote.

Bar President Pat Starke  has heard proponents say they’ll launch a new petition drive calling for public election of all judges, even Supreme Court judges.  Starke says tampering with the non-partisan coaurt plan has been a loser five previous times and it will be a loser again. .

Starke says he’s not saying the plan cannot be changed–and it has been in recent years.  But he says the bar will fight any effort to put politics into the selection process.

AUDIO: Starke interview 8:03