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Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court

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The Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court resides in Missouri in Platte County. Click on the links below to learn more about the court's...

Jurisdiction

This court holds the following jurisdiction:[1]

Missouri circuit courts are courts of original civil and criminal jurisdiction. That is, cases usually begin in the circuit court, which is where trials may occur. Within the circuit court, there are various divisions, such as associate circuit, small claims, municipal, family, probate, criminal and juvenile.[2]

Judges


Elections

Missouri is one of 43 states that hold elections for judicial positions. To learn more about judicial selection in Missouri, click here.

Selection method

See also: Judicial selection in the states

The judges of the Missouri Circuit Courts in Clay, Greene, Jackson, Platte, and St. Louis counties and the city of St. Louis are appointed by the governor with the help of a judicial selection commission.[3]

The chief judge of each court is elected by the circuit and associate judges from among the sitting circuit judges.[4]

Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:

  • a U.S. citizen for at least 10 years;
  • a qualified state voter for at least three years;
  • a resident of the circuit for at least one year;
  • licensed to practice law in the state; and
  • at least 30 years old.[4]

Judicial elections in Missouri

See also: Missouri judicial elections

Missouri is one of eight states that use partisan elections to initially select judges and then use retention elections to determine whether judges should remain on the bench. To read more about how states use judicial elections to select judges across the country, click here.

Partisan election

Trial judges who were elected in partisan elections may seek re-election at the end of their terms. They must run as a Republican, Democrat, or an independent. Partisan elections decide the majority of Missouri's judges. Judges first run in a party primary in August, with the winner of each primary moving on to the general election.[5][6][7]

Candidates who run unopposed are not printed on the official ballot.[8]

Retention election

Judges on the supreme court and appellate courts are subject to the nonpartisan court plan and run for retention. Trial judges in five counties also run for retention in accordance with this plan. Those counties are St. Louis, Jackson, Clay, Platte and Greene.[5]

See also

External links

Footnotes