Mo. High Court Upholds $2M Award for Prosecutor Who Claimed Reverse Bias in Judicial Appointment
The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld an award of more than $2 million for a prosecutor who claimed she didn’t get a judicial appointment because of reverse bias by the Kansas City Council.
Melissa Howard, who is white, had contended she didn’t get a municipal judgeship in 2006 because the city council wanted to fill the job with a racial minority, the Kansas City Star reports. An appeals court had ruled the state human rights act didn’t cover municipal judges. The state supreme court reversed in an opinion issued on Tuesday.
Howard was one of three white women nominated for the position by a five-member commission. Several city council members expressed disappointment at the lack of diversity in the recommendations, and none of the nominees was approved. Howard sued, and was awarded $633,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitives.
The supreme court held that Howard’s job was covered by the Missouri Human Rights Act, which bars consideration of race in hiring by the state and its political subdivisions. The law applies to employees “usually below the executive level.”
“Although judges have independent decision-making authority regarding the cases they hear, they are not normally considered in the context of above or below the ‘executive level,’ ” the decision said. “This part of the definition simply does not apply.”
Nor are municipal judges independent contractors, the opinion said, since they must follow the law, show up when scheduled and may be subject to removal in certain circumstances.
Howard works in the prosecutor’s office in Jackson and Clay counties, the story says.
