Edward D. "Chip" Robertson Jr. (born May 1, 1952) is a former chief justice of the

Supreme Court of Missouri The Supreme Court of Missouri (SCOMO) is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constituti ...

. Robertson was 33 years old when then-Governor

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, Lobbying, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the 79th United States attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. A Republican Party (United States), R ...

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 State ...

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 Matthew Roy Blunt (born November 20, 1970) is an American politician, lobbyist, and former naval officer who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 54th governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2009. He previously served ten years in the United St ...

in the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Republican primary, but ultimately declined.Chip Robertson in line to be Blunt's top challenger
''

Saint Louis Business Journal In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

'', 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 Bernard Strickland (born June 7, 1959) is an 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