Judge Ginger Gooch will join the Supreme Court of Missouri. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson appointed the Springfield judge and past Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association President Oct. 30.
“It is an exciting day for the legal community across the state but especially for those of us in the Springfield Bar,” Jarica Oeltjen, SMBA president said in a statement. “Judge Gooch is a leader and active member of our bar and we are proud that the best of us will now be represented on our state’s highest court.”
The vacancy is due to the October 2023 retirement of Judge Patricia Breckenridge, 70.
The Appellate Judicial Commission submitted the names of Gooch, Judge Michael E. Gardner and Judge John P. Torbitzky to the governor's office after nearly three hours of public interviews, more than two hours of deliberations and 10 rounds of balloting.
Gooch serves on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District. She will be the third Springfield judge in 100 years to serve on the state Supreme Court.
Gooch was born in 1975. She earned her bachelor of arts in English and philosophy, law and rhetoric in 1997 from Stephens College in Columbia and her law degree in 2000 from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.
Other Springfield judges to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri include John Turner White, who served from 1923 to 1932, and John C. Holstein, who served from 1989 to 2002.
“Judge Gooch has known the value of hard work her whole life. She is a loving mother, dedicated wife, and proud woman of faith who we know will make a great addition to our state's highest court,” Parson said in a news release. “With her appointment, our third to the Court, we have truly reshaped the makeup of the Missouri Supreme Court for decades to come.”
“Judge Gooch has fought her whole career to help give the next generations of Missourians a hand up, especially women. Building the bench is as important to her as it is to me, and she works tirelessly to ensure the most qualified people have an opportunity,” Parson continued. “She clerked for the first woman on the Missouri Supreme Court, and now with her appointment, we cement the first female majority on our state's highest court in state history. We know Judge Gooch is the right woman for the job.”
