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Patricia Breckenridge
Patricia Breckenridge was a judge of the Missouri Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2007. She left office on October 13, 2023.
Breckenridge ran for re-election for judge of the Missouri Supreme Court. She won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Breckenridge first became a member of the Missouri Supreme Court through a gubernatorial appointment. She was first appointed to the court in 2007 by Gov. Matt Blunt (R).[1][2] To read more about judicial selection in Missouri, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Breckenridge received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Breckenridge served as the court's chief justice from July 2015 to June 2017.[2] Before serving on the court, she served on the Missouri Court of Appeals from 1990 to 2007 and the Missouri 28th Judicial Circuit Court from 1982 to 1990.
Breckenridge retired on October 13, 2023, after reaching the Missouri Supreme Court mandatory retirement age of 70.[5] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Biography
Breckenridge received her undergraduate degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1975 and her J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.[6] Before becoming a judge, Breckenridge worked as an attorney in private practice.[1][2]
Elections
2020
Missouri Supreme Court, Patricia Breckenridge retention
Patricia Breckenridge was retained to the Missouri Supreme Court on November 3, 2020 with 73.9% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
73.9
|
1,950,914 | ||
No |
26.1
|
688,906 | |||
Total Votes |
2,639,820 | ||||
|
|
2008
Breckenridge was retained to her post on the supreme court in the November 4, 2008, general election in Missouri, winning 73 percent of the vote.[7]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Patricia Breckenridge did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Patricia
Breckenridge
Missouri
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Breckenridge was registered as a Republican prior to 2020. She donated $1125 to Republican candidates and organizations. Breckenridge was appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt (R). At the time of her appointment, Missouri was a Republican trifecta.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Breckenridge received a campaign finance score of 0.8, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Breckenridge received a campaign finance score of 0.8, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.001 that justices received in Missouri.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[10]
State supreme court judicial selection in Missouri
- See also: Judicial selection in Missouri
The seven justices of the Missouri Supreme Court are chosen through assisted appointment in which the governor selects a nominee from a list provided by a nominating commission. When a vacancy occurs, a list of potential candidates is compiled by the Missouri Appellate Judicial Commission and narrowed to three choices. From those three candidates, the governor appoints a new judge. After the newly appointed judge serves for at least one year, they must stand for retention in the next general election. If retained, they serve twelve-year terms.[11]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen for at least 15 years;
- a qualified state voter for at least nine years;
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- over the age of 30; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).[11]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court serves a two-year term and is elected by a peer vote.[11]
Vacancies
When a vacancy occurs, a list of potential candidates is compiled by the Missouri Appellate Judicial Commission and narrowed to three choices. From those three candidates, the governor appoints a new judge. After the newly appointed judge serves for at least one year, they must stand for retention in the next general election. If retained, they serve twelve-year terms.[11]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Your Missouri Courts, "Judge Patricia Breckenridge," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 St. Louis Public Radio, "Russell reflects on term as chief justice of Missouri Supreme Court," June 23, 2015
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ ‘’Associated Press’', "Missouri governor appoints appeals court judge to the state Supreme Court”, September 12, 2023
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Judge Patricia Breckenridge (MO)," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "2008 General Election Results," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 7, 2021
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Missouri, Western District of Missouri • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Missouri, Western District of Missouri
State courts:
Missouri Supreme Court • Missouri Court of Appeals • Missouri Circuit Courts • Missouri Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Missouri • Missouri judicial elections • Judicial selection in Missouri
