Litigation

Editorial Urges ?Full Public View? of IA Selection

By Peter Hardin

The process for selecting three new Iowa Supreme Court justices must be carried out “in full public view” in order to restore public confidence in the courts, declares an editorial in a leading state newspaper.

The Des Moines Register editorial is headlined, “Let [the] public see how judges are selected.” In the wake of voters removing three justices on Election Day, a nominating commission is preparing to interview and recommend candidates for the high court. The editorial zeroes in on this merit selection process:

“This is an opportunity for the commission to demonstrate that Iowa’s judicial-selection procedure works in the interest of a competent, independent and nonpolitical judiciary. The process must be thoughtful and deliberative, with no preconceived ideas about whether the ultimate choices should be made by the sitting governor or by his successor. Above all, the process must be done in full public view.”

Full transparency would require changes in procedure. “The commission should invite the public to observe the process by streaming interviews online and making applicants’ questionnaires public,” the editorial urges. The public “should see there is reason to have confidence in those who play a major role in shaping Iowa’s courts,” it concludes.

Meanwhile a Des Moines Register article explores whether the ouster vote in retention elections may affect the number of applicants for the newly opened seats on the high court bench.

On the weekend, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican and potential presidential aspirant, said Iowa voters may have launched a national movement with the ouster vote. A campaign to deny reelection to the three justices was mounted by groups irate over a court ruling that permitted same-sex marriages in iowa.

?The significance and historic nature of the judicial elections here in Iowa were far bigger than the borders of Iowa,? Huckabee said, according to an Associated Press article. ?It was a very important statement that voters made, a statement that resonated across the country and one that I think will give legs to a larger movement over the next few years.?

An editorial in the Casper (Wyoming) Tribune, a newspaper from a state with merit selection of judges, castigated heavy spending on the Iowa retention election and called the outcome “stunning.”

“It’s justice for sale,” the editorial lamented.

The editorial quoted data compiled by Justice at Stake and a partner group, the Brennan Center for Justice, about spending totals by interest groups in Iowa.

You can learn more about the Iowa retention elections, and the debate over the results, in Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).