Missouri Judge Beats Court Clerk’s Bid to Revive Retaliation Row

A Missouri trial court judge and his wife defeated a circuit clerk’s attempt to revive claims that they violated her First Amendment and due process rights, a federal appeals court said Tuesday.

The clerk says the judge wrongly initiated criminal contempt proceedings against her after she defeated his wife, a former deputy clerk, in a local election. But qualified immunity blocks the clerk’s First Amendment claim, and her due process claim is “missing a central element,” the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said, affirming the district court’s dismissal.

Betty Grooms serves as Oregon County Circuit ...