Litigation

Coming Soon: Public Interviews for IA Candidates

By Peter Hardin

It won’t make for compelling TV, but Iowa plans to make public via Internet live-stream the interviews of state Supreme Court candidates that will take place soon.

For the first time, the nominating commission that screens candidates for the state’s top court will open these interviews to the public in January, according to a Des Moines Register article.

Iowans who watch will be able to see the applicants in action and judge whether the commission works in a “careful, thoughtful way to nominate the best qualified,” said commission member Guy Cook.

“People are going to be bored out of their minds,” said Drake University Law professor Bob Rigg. “A lot of those questions are going to involve procedural issues. Have you ever looked at the Iowa Rules of Civil or Criminal Procedure? Mmmm, boy, yeah. Juicy stuff.”

The increased openness came in the wake of Iowans voting in November to oust three Supreme Court justices, in response to a unanimous court ruling that permitted same-sex marriages in the state.

Gavel Grab mentioned earlier this week a decision in Kansas to open to the public interviews of candidates for two appeals courts; the action was taken to increase public confidence in judicial selection. Both Kansas and Iowa have merit-based systems for choosing judges, which were intended to shield the courts from political influence.

In Iowa, the screening commission will be seeking to replace the three ousted justices. They will step down Dec. 31. The commission will meet the week of Jan. 24, which means the incoming Republican governor, Terry Branstad, will appoint the new judges.

Regarding the appointment process, the Des Moines Register ran guest commentaries with dualing points of view.

Judge Darrell Goodhue penned a commentary entitled, “With three justices to select, step back to see bigger picture.” He urged sticking with Iowa’s merit selection system, choosing the best qualified applicants for the high court bench and leaving the gay marriage issue to the legislature.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, on the other hand, wrote an essay that was headlined, “Fill Iowa’s judicial vacancies with strict constructionists.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 14, 2010 (boomark / email).