Gardner, Gooch and Torbitzky are finalists for Supreme Court

The Appellate Judicial Commission has selected three Court of Appeals judges as finalists for an opening on the Missouri Supreme Court.

The commission chose Michael E. Gardner, Ginger K. Gooch and John P. Torbitzky on Oct. 24 as potential successors to Judge Patricia Breckenridge, who retired earlier this month. In a statement, the commission said the three nominees were chosen unanimously after three hours of public interviews with the 22 applicants, two hours of deliberations and 10 rounds of balloting.

Gov. Mike Parson has 60 days to name one of the three to the high court.

Gardner is a judge on the Court of Appeals Eastern District. Prior to his appointment to the appeals court in 2020, he was an elected judge in the 32nd Circuit and was in private practice before that. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri in 2004.

Gooch was named as a judge on the Southern District last December. Prior to that, she had more than two decades of trial and appellate experience as an attorney with Husch Blackwell’s Springfield office. She earned her law degree in 2000 from the University of Missouri.

Torbitzky is a judge on the Eastern District. He was named to the court in 2021 and previously was a member of Reichardt Torbitzky in St. Louis. He earned his law degree in 2012 from Saint Louis University.

Gardner and Gooch were previously finalists for the vacancy left earlier by the retirement of Judge George W. Draper III. Parson named Judge Kelly Broniec, previously of the Eastern District, to the court in September.