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Loading...Iowans Oust Three of the Gay Marriage Legalization Supreme Court Justices
In 2009 the Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that legalized same sex marriage in the state. Opponents of the ruling eventually centered their discontent on a movement to vote each of the nine justices off the bench. A 1962 merit selection and retention system, which gives voters in Iowa the opportunity to remove judges from the bench, afforded them the means, and they carefully crafted a campaign to convince Iowans that the justices had subverted the will of the people as opposed to merely interpreting state law and its constitution.
Little hope of job retention
With polls closing, early returns indicate that the three justices who are up for retention this year will lose their seats on the court. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, Justice David Baker and Justice Michael Streit need a simple majority to retain their seats but with each lagging under 50%, it’s unlikely they will reach it.
Their removal marks the first time since the implementation of the retention system that any judge has been voted off the bench by Iowans.
Judges in Iowa are non-partisan and because of this the judges targeted by an anti-gay marriage faction lead by Bob Vander Plaat refused to campaign for their seats on the bench. In exit polls 8 out of 10 Iowans seemed to believe that the judges had created a new law with their ruling on the legality of same sex marriage rather than simply interpret the State of Iowa’s existing laws and constitution.
Read more: 2010 election, bob vander plaat, gay marriage, gay rights, iowa, justices, marsha ternus, politics
by Peaco Todd
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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6 comments
+ add your ownthe only reason our judicial system works is because judges are appointed. they need not worry about their popularity. if judges all over the nation started worrying about polls how would they be any different from senators?it would simply increase corruption and completely destroy the judicial system.
The appointment of judges should never be a political issue; that way the judiciary can never be truly impartial but always open to corruption. The only persons genuinely qualified to appoint judges are members of their own profession. Certainly the general public has neither the intelligence not the expertise to be involved.
I firmly believe that we need to be able to vote whether or not to retain judges. The Missouri Plan, which was formulated by my own state, is the best formula for determining who should serve as judges.
On the other hand, any regimen can be misused for nefarious purposes. Apparently, that happened in Iowa. Civil and human rights are hard won. They cannot and should not be abrogated by a vote of the electorate. Unfortunately, until the Supreme Court or Congress acts with regard to these issues, we will continue to see these kinds of injustices.
What muddy water. The law is not really understood by the populace and this can be lead to irrational judgement. One person's Fair is another's detriment. (My spelling suffers.)
I think we need to reserve the right to vote judges out. It's extraordinarily sad that these three were voted out, but don't we need to reserve the right to vote out the judges WE think are unsuitable?
Thanks for the info.
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