Edward D. "Chip" Robertson Jr. (born May 1, 1952) is a former
chief justice of the
Supreme Court of Missouri. Robertson was 33 years old when then-Governor
John Ashcroft appointed him to serve on the court, and he served from 1985 to 1998. His appointment - Ashcroft's first to the high court - led to claims that the non-partisan
Missouri Plan The Missouri Plan (originally the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, also known as the merit plan, or some variation) is a method for the selection of judges. It originated in Missouri in 1940 and has been adopted by many states of the United States. ...
for appointing judges was actually a highly partisan process; twenty years later, Robertson would join opposition to Republican efforts to dismantle the system. In 1998 he left the Supreme Court to join a Kansas City firm which led Missouri's lawsuit against tobacco companies.
Electoral politics
As early as 2005, Robertson was rumored to be mulling a challenge to then-Governor
Matt Blunt in the
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Republican primary, but ultimately declined.
Chip Robertson in line to be Blunt's top challenger
'' Saint Louis Business Journal'', Dave Drebes, December 11, 2005. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
Kevin Strickland case
In 2021, Robertson's assistance was enlisted to help seek the exoneration of Kevin Strickland
Kevin Strickland (born June 7, 1959) is an African-American man who was wrongfully convicted by an all-white jury in 1979 of killing three people in Kansas City, Missouri. No physical evidence linked him to the scene of the crime and the only a ...
, who had spent 43 years in prison despite substantial indications of complete innocence of murders committed in a Kansas City home invasion.[Kevin Strickland's fate in judge's hands; Baker urges him to right a 'terrible mistake', Luke Nozicka, November 11, 2021.]
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Edward D.
University of Missouri alumni
Southern Methodist University alumni
Westminster College (Missouri) alumni
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
University of Virginia School of Law alumni
Lawyers from St. Louis
Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Missouri
1952 births
Living people
Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri