Women will make up majority of Missouri Supreme Court after Gov. Parson announces pick

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday named Kelly C. Broniec to serve as the state’s next Supreme Court judge.

Broniec, chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District in St. Louis, was one of three judges nominated for the position by a seven-member commission last month. She will fill the vacancy left by Judge George W. Draper III, who retired earlier this month.

“Not only is Judge Broniec an exceptional jurist but she’s an even better person. She is a proud woman of faith who comes from humble beginnings and worked hard to pave her own way,” Parson told reporters Tuesday.

Tuesday’s appointment marks the second time that Parson has named a judge to the state’s highest court. He did so in 2021 when he appointed Judge Robin Ransom. Later this year, the Republican governor will make his third appointment when Judge Patricia Breckenridge retires in October after turning 70, the court’s mandatory retirement age.

The appointment means that, for now, a majority — four of the seven — of the judges on the Missouri Supreme Court will be women. Broniec said that Missouri was one of only 11 states that had a majority of women on its Supreme Court.

Broniec’s appointment does not require a confirmation vote by the Missouri General Assembly. While her swearing-in date has not yet been set, Missouri law requires her to be sworn in within 30 days of her appointment.

The Republican governor on Tuesday said he was confident that Broniec would “reshape and strengthen the Missouri Supreme Court and our judicial system as a whole.”

Broniec told reporters that the appointment was a dream come true but also a great responsibility.

“Governor, I pledge to you and to the citizens of Missouri that I understand that my responsibility as a member of the court is to decide the important cases that come before the court conscientiously, promptly and consistently with the law as written,” she said.

Broniec’s appointment may also shift the state Supreme Court more conservative. The retirement of Draper, who was appointed Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in 2011, means the court will only have two judges — Chief Justice Mary R. Russell and Judge Paul C. Wilson — who were appointed by a Democratic governor. And Ransom will be the only remaining Black judge.

Broniec, who lives in Montgomery City, earned a degree in business administration from what is now Williams Woods University in Fulton and graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law in 1996.

Parson picked Broniec over two other nominees, Michael E. Gardner, who also serves as a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals in the Eastern District in St. Louis, and Ginger K. Gooch, a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals in the Southern District in Springfield.

Several attorneys and politicians previously told The Star that they expected Parson, who owns a cattle farm in southwestern Bolivar, to pick a judge from the southern part of the state. Parson on Tuesday said he would love to pick someone from southwest Missouri and said he was waiting to see who was nominated for Breckenridge’s vacancy.

“At the end of the day, it’s still about getting the right person in that position,” he said.

The seven-member commission, chaired by Chief Justice Mary R. Russell, announced the three nominees last month after combing through more than 20 applicants and eight hours of interviews.

The nominees meant that Parson would not be able to consider any applicants from the Kansas City area for the vacancy on the court. One of the applicants was state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican who successfully passed legislation last year to force Kansas City to spend more on police.

Jackson County Judge Kenneth R. Garrett III, who hails from Kansas City, also was one of the applicants and was the only Black person to apply.