If State Rep. Louis Riggs (R-Hannibal) has his way, a federal judge will be appointed to serve the northeastern part of the state.
“We haven't added anything in the Northern division for a very long time so people up on the Iowa line, they go to St. Louis to have their cases heard, which is a four-to-five hour drive on a good day,” Riggs told the St. Louis Record.
Riggs, an attorney, told the House Judiciary Committee before they voted on March 9 that intelligent life still exists north of I-70.
“I don't know what the pain point is there or why folks are so reluctant, but it has become a problem for folks up in the Northeast basically to run to St. Louis for stuff when it could be in Hannibal,” he said.
The committee unanimously approved Riggs’ resolution, which would provide for a federal judge or magistrate to be appointed in the Hannibal Federal Building, according to media reports.
“I look at this from a standpoint of the justice system itself,” Riggs said. “I get that the Hannibal courthouse isn't the prettiest thing that God ever put on this earth but it's geographically centrally located for Northeast and the counties in the Northern division. It's viable. The bankruptcy folks come up there every month. So, it's not like we don't have people coming in and out of the Hannibal Federal Building.”
There had been a part-time federal magistrate assigned to the courthouse until 1982, according to Riggs.
“To base people in Hannibal, you would need somebody basically there to answer the phone,” he said. "So, there would be a full-time equivalent of basically somebody present in the chambers to keep it open. Is that a funding challenge? If it is a challenge, it's not much of a challenge.”
Currently, none of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri federal judges are in the Northern Division. The three divisions include St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, and Hannibal.
"Once upon a time in a land far, far away, we had a Congressman named Harold Volkmer who left office in 1996," Riggs added. "Harold had an office in the federal building on the same floor as chambers. The courtroom and the chambers in the courtroom are still there."