Judge Thomas N. Chapman, presiding judge of the 43rd Judicial Circuit (Caldwell, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb and Livingston Counties) is one of three nominees who has been submitted to fill the vacancy on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. This vacancy exists due to the March 2018 retirement of Judge James E. Welsh.
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Zel M. Fischer, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri and chair of the Appellate Judicial Commission, announced the panel of nominees on Aug. 8. They will be submitted to Governor Mike Parson. The governor has 60 days to select one member of the panel to fill the vacancy. Should he fail to do so, the Missouri Constitution directs the commission to make the appointment.
This panel of three nominees was selected from an initial field of 15 applicants for the vacancy, who were announced on July 20.
The commission unanimously supports the three nominees. The nominees were chosen after approximately five hours of public interviews, more than 1.5 hours of deliberations and four rounds of balloting. Besides Judge Chapman, the other two nominees are W. Ann Hansbrough from Platte County and W. Douglas Thomson from Nodaway County.
Chapman was born in 1966. He earned his bachelor of arts, summa cum laude, in political science in 1988 from Westminster College in Fulton; his law degree in 1991 from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville; and his masters in law in taxation in 1995 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
In addition to Fischer, the commission is composed of Michelle Beckler of Marshfield, Scott S. Bethune of Kansas City, Thomas K. Neill of St. Louis, Kathy Ritter of Columbia, Edward “Nick” Robinson of St. Louis and Donald E. Woody of Springfield.