Litigation

What Will IA Battle Mean for the Nation?

By Peter Hardin

Iowa’s fierce retention election battle over three state Supreme Court justices who voted to legalize same-sex marriage is taking on national implications.

The white-hot Iowa struggle “has been the flash point for a national debate over how judges should be selected,” according to a CNN report.

With outside money from social-conservative groups pumped in to unseat the three justices, the contest has become politicized and high-profile.

“The politics surrounding judges has gotten extremely ugly here,” said co-chair Arthur Neu,  a former Republican lieutenant governor. “I’m concerned these outside groups are using us as the place to launch something bigger — to take out judges in Iowa and then intimidate jurists elsewhere. That’s why so much money is being poured into these races.”

CNN not only recaps the simmering debate over electing judges versus appointment and other reforms, but it spotlights a report co-authored by Justice at Stake on exploding spending in the last decade’s judicial elections.  CNN also touches on contentious retention (up-or-down) elections in Colorado and Illinois and a ballot initiative for merit selection in Nevada.

“If approved, it would be a rallying cry for other states considering similar revisions,” said Rebecca Kourlis about the Nevada initiative. She is executive director of The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, a Justice at Stake partner. “We know the merit selection system used by many states is not perfect, but it is a tested, proven, reasonable alternative.

An in-depth Des Moines Register article, meanwhile, spotlighted the Democratic-dominated makeup of a state board that recommends finalists for appellate courts. It has 12 Democrats, one Republican and one member of unknown political affiliation.

By contrast, most other state commissions are required to have a political balance in their makeup. That’s due to a law that took effect in the 1970s. However, a 1962 constitutional amendment that created Iowa’s merit-based system for selecting judges requires that membership be chosen “without reference to political affiliation.”

The screening board is structured to have  seven members chosen by members of the Iowa Bar Association, seven named by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, and the most senior state Supreme Court justice other than the chief.

According to the article, four of the current justices were registered as Democrats in 2007 and two others were not registered with a political party. The author of the controversial and unanimous same-sex marriage decision was registered as a Republican in 2006.

To learn more about the retention election in Iowa, check out Justice at Stake’s Iowa news page or Judicial Elections 2010 page.

Full post as published by The Gavel on October 28, 2010 (boomark / email).