What is the main focus of the Missouri Bar Plan?

The Missouri Bar Plan, also known as the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, primarily emphasizes merit-based selection of judges. This system was established to remove partisan politics from the judicial selection process and aims to ensure that judges are chosen based on their qualifications and experience rather than their political affiliations or campaign contributions.

Under this plan, a nonpartisan commission evaluates candidates for judicial positions and recommends a list of qualified individuals to the governor, who then appoints one from that list. This process helps to foster a judiciary that is more impartial and better equipped to uphold the law without the influence of political pressures.

In contrast, the other options focus on varying methods of judicial selection that do not align with the principles of the Missouri Bar Plan. Mandatory retirement of judges, election of judges, and random lottery for appointments are alternative approaches that are not part of the merit-based framework that the Missouri plan seeks to promote.