Court Judge Richard B. Teitelman
Commentary by Kerry Messer
Publisher’s
Note
Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri, as
well as judges on all of Missouri’s Courts of Appeal and the Circuit Courts in Clay County,
Jackson County, Platte County, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County
(Kansas City & St. Louis areas) are all appointed through what is
called the “Nonpartisan Court Plan.” Therefore, justices on these courts fall
within the MetroVoice’s nonpartisan policy -- the
same as ballot issues. As with ballot issues, this gives us the freedom to make
recommendations as to whether or not judges appointed through the Nonpartisan
Court Plan should be retained or rejected. Since these justices are not
candidates for office and are not officially aligned with any political party, churches
are free to recommend to their members that they be either retained or rejected
as well.
On
your November 2nd, 2004 General Election ballot there will be a statewide
retention vote for one of the most powerful and liberal judges in Missouri. If approved, he will serve for twelve more
years!
Missouri Supreme Court Judge Richard B. Teitelman
was appointed to the state’s highest court on February 21st, 2002. Teitelman’s appointment
was the
second such liberal addition to Missouri’s highest court made by our current
Governor, Bob Holden. Holden of course was rejected by his own Democrat Party
in the August 3rd election.
With
Holden’s second selection seated on the bench, Missouri’s top court swung to a
liberal, leftist 4 to 3 majority for the first time in our state’s history.
This realignment of Missouri’s judiciary to a liberal activist court poses a
real threat to the culture that our children and our children’s children will
inherit.
Teitelman has written several activist decisions since his
appointment which expose him as much more liberal than most. The following are
just four examples of Judge Teitlelman’s radical,
anti-family, activist decisions. Full documentation on the following decisions,
as well as other state court cases, can be found on the Missouri Courts web
site at www.courts.mo.gov.
Alienation
of Affection
Judge
Teitelman wiped out the civil use of alienation of
affection as a legal tool to protect marriages in Missouri with this case. Arguing from personal opinions instead of
consulting the factual history of marriage in our state, he abused his seat on
the High Court to undermine the family in order to perpetuate a feminist lie
that men see marriage as greedy ownership of women, from pagan cultural
backgrounds. In this 5-2 split decision,
the family and the institution of marriage lost! See
the best article on this case, in this issue, Banish the Druids. (For full documentation see Supreme Court Case 85053)
Criminal
Defense Evidence
Most
citizens never study court rules, but we all benefit from them. Civil and criminal court rules keep uniform
order in the judiciary. If they
fluctuate, justice becomes a whim of postmodern thought. In this case, a man was convicted of forcible
rape and forcible sodomy, sending the victim to the hospital with multiple
injuries. He claimed that his victim had
consented. Historically, some evidence is blocked due to its biased nature. However,
this is no longer the rule. Judge Teitelman’s 4-3 split decision now expands the rules of
evidence in favor of a violent criminal!
(For full documentation see Supreme Court Case 85620)
Internet Twins
Everyone
has read or heard news accounts of the crack addicted mother who, for drug
money, put her twin girls up for sale over the Internet. Media distortions abound but clear facts show
the mother gained financially from three different adoptions she
initiated. The mother illegally cleared
one adoption to a British couple but was caught. After 22 months of treating her premature
twins as trash, Teitelman reinstated her parental
rights in a 4-3 split! (For full
documentation see Supreme Court Case 85683)
Child
Endangerment
In
yet another 4-3 split case, Judge Teitelman led the
court to hand a 6-year-old boy back to a ‘father’ who was a registered sex
offender who was no longer capable of caring for the boy due to a significant
head injury. A lower court had
terminated parental rights in part when it was shown that the father was also
taking showers with the boy! While this
and the “internet twins” case touch parental rights, Teitelman
rules from the left! (For full documentation see Supreme Court Case
85792)
Judicial
Tyranny
The
majority opinions Teitelman has authored are clear
examples of the type of judicial decisions which lead to judicial tyranny. Even before his appointment, Judge Teitelman had developed a somewhat controversial reputation
as a liberal activist. For a full 23
years he worked with the notorious Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, serving
18 of those years as Executive Director and General Counsel. Prior to his joining the Missouri Supreme
Court, Teitelman was appointed to the Missouri Court
of Appeals in 1998 by former Governor Mel Carnahan as a trusted liberal
activist who would back up his administration’s pro-abortion and pro-homosexual
policies.
As
the sample cases in this commentary illustrate, Teitelman
is totally out-of-touch with common-sense values not to mention our entire
court system. Teitelman is forging a new course for
the State’s Supreme Court. He is not
connecting with the history or traditional restraints which have guided our courts
for over 180 years. He does not relate
to the legal analysis of the senior members of the Court, whether serving or
retired. To make matters worse, he decides cases with little or no concern for
the rule of law or former constitutional precedents!
In
short, the biggest threat to the traditional Missouri values is no longer the
Legislature (which we the voters removed from liberal domination) but the courts! While liberals had control of the Missouri Legislature,
the state court system helped to keep them in check, to a small degree. Most liberal judicial advances were initiated
in the Federal Court system as activists avoided the Missouri Supreme Court as
much as possible. This has all
changed. Today the Legislature has
returned to a more conservative direction, but the state court system has
detoured toward liberalism.
Missourians
will soon discover that as the new liberal majority on the bench progresses
in tenure, so will they grow in boldness and activism. We must respond now - not later! And the best way to start is by voting ”NO” to retain Judge Teitelman
on November 2nd!
Kerry Messer is the Founder and President of Missouri Family Network
(MFN) headquartered in Festus, MO.
For more information regarding the work of MFN or to contribute to his
ministry of defending family values he can be reached via
e-mail at mofamnet@ldd.net or by phone at 573-483-2007.