This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 3, 2012 - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon just announced that he has named Paul C. Wilson, a former aide and former judge, as the newest member of the Missouri Supreme Court.
Wilson had been considered the behind-the-scenes favorite as Nixon’s choice to succeed high court Judge William Ray Price Jr., who is retiring. Price was among the few remaining GOP-appointed judges still on Missouri’s seven-member court.
Under the Missouri constitution, the governor makes all the appointments to the state Supreme Court from a list of three nominees chosen by a commission made up of citizens and members of the Missouri Bar. The governor’s choice is absolute; the General Assembly has no role in the process.
Said Nixon in a statement: “Paul Wilson has stood before both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Missouri Supreme Court to represent the state of Missouri in cases on legal issues as diverse as federalism, the conversion of nonprofit assets, school funding, and the constitutionality of actions by the General Assembly.
“He has demonstrated, time and again, both his ability and his dedication to serving the people of Missouri, and I am very pleased to be able to name him to the state’s highest court.”
Wilson currently is a member of the law firm of Van Matre, Harrison, Hollis, Taylor & Bacon, in Columbia, Mo.
He had been named by Nixon in January 2010 to be a judge for the 19th Judicial Circuit in Cole County, but he then lost the election in November to Republican Daniel Green.
Wilson worked under Nixon in the Missouri attorney general’s office from 1996 to 2008, first as an assistant attorney general and then as deputy chief of staff for litigation. The governor’s office adds that Wilson “also served as senior counsel for budget and finance and as director for the Transform Missouri Project during 2008 to 2010.”
