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Paul C. Wilson (Missouri)
This page is about the Missouri Supreme Court justice. If you are looking for the Massachusetts Superior Courts judge, please see: Paul D. Wilson.
2013 - Present
2026
12
Paul C. Wilson is a judge of the Missouri Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2013. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.
Wilson served as the court's chief justice from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2023.[1]
Wilson first became a member of the Missouri Supreme Court through a gubernatorial appointment. He was first appointed to the court by Gov. Jay Nixon (D) on December 3, 2012, to succeed retired Justice William Ray Price.[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] Wilson received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Prior to joining the court, he served on the Missouri 19th Judicial Circuit Court.
Biography
Wilson earned his B.A. from Drury University in 1982 and his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1992. Prior to joining the court, he worked in private practice and as assistant attorney general and deputy chief of staff in the Missouri Attorney General's Office. He clerked for Justice Chip Robertson and Judge Richard Suhrheinrich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.[5]
Elections
2014
- See also: Missouri judicial elections, 2014
Wilson was retained to the Supreme Court with 63.1 percent of the vote on November 4, 2014. [6]
2010
- Main article: Missouri judicial elections, 2010
Wilson ran for election to the 19th Circuit Court seat he was appointed to. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary but lost to Daniel Green in the general election.[7]
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.
Paul
Wilson
Missouri
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Wilson served as the assistant attorney general and deputy chief of staff in the Missouri Attorney General's Office under Gov. Jay Nixon (D). He was appointed by Gov. Nixon (D).
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.[10]
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).[10]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court serves a two-year term and is elected by a peer vote.[10]
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.[10]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Officeholder Missouri Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ Springfield News-Leader, "Missouri Supreme Court rules against state on public records, appoints new chief justice," July 1, 2021
- ↑ Columbia Missourian, "Gov. Nixon appoints Paul C. Wilson to Missouri Supreme Court," December 3, 2012
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Gov. Nixon announces appointment of Paul Wilson to vacancy on Cole County 19th Judicial Circuit Court" Governor Jay Nixon's News Release, January 5, 2010
- ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "2014 General Election Results," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "2010 General Election Results," accessed August 5, 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.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 7, 2021
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
