Abstract
This research focuses on a policy innovation which has a direct impact on the structure and administration of state courts. Two possible patterns of diffusion are examined to answer the question: Why did certain states adopt the Missouri Court Plan? One explanation is that the plan spread among the states because of its purported virtue of enhancing the selection of judges. A second explanation suggests that political necessities were instrumental to the adoption of the plan. The application of probit analysis to the data revealed that the rural to urban shift in population and political power in the 1960s may have motivated states to adopt the Missouri Plan. Although innovations may have appealing policy implications, decisions to adopt innovations are based on the political realities facing policymakers.