George Draper

George Draper was a judge of the Missouri Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2011. He left office on August 4, 2023.

Draper first became a member of the Missouri Supreme Court through a gubernatorial appointment. He was first appointed to the court in October 2011 by Gov. Jay Nixon (D).^[1]

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.^[2] Draper received a confidence score of Indeterminate.^[3] Click here to read more about this study.

Prior to joining the court, he served on the Missouri Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2011 and the Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court from 1994 to 2000.

Draper retired from the Missouri Supreme Court on August 4, 2023.^[4]

Biography

Draper received a B.A. in psychology from Morehouse College and a J.D. from Howard University School of Law. Prior to becoming a judge, he worked as an attorney in the Office of the Circuit Attorney of St. Louis. He clerked for Judge Shellie Bowers of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.^[5]

Elections

2023

See also: Missouri Supreme Court justice vacancy (August 2023)

Missouri governor Mike Parson (R) appointed Kelly Broniec to the Missouri Supreme Court. Broniec replaced Justice George Draper who retired on August 4, 2023, due to reaching the state's mandatory retirement age of 70. Draper's replacement was Governor Mike Parson's (R) second nominee to the seven-member supreme court.^[6][7]

At the time of the vacancy, Missouri law required the governor to appoint a new judge from a list of candidates compiled by the Missouri Appellate Judicial Commission. Newly appointed judges were required to stand for retention in the next general election occurring one to three years after taking office.

2012

See also: Missouri judicial elections, 2012

Draper was retained with 69.8 percent of the vote in the general election on November 6th.^[8]

2011

Governor Jay Nixon (D) appointed Draper to the Missouri Supreme Court.^[9]

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

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.^[10]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

• Strong Democrat
• Mild Democrat
• Indeterminate^[11]
• 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.

Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 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.

Draper received a campaign finance score of -0.73, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal 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.^[12]

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.^[13]

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).^[13]

Chief justice

The chief justice of the supreme court serves a two-year term and is elected by a peer vote.^[13]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

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.^[13]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

Personal

Draper is married to Judge Judy P. Draper, a circuit court judge on the 21st Circuit Court.

See also

External links

Footnotes