Litigation

Move to Impeach Remaining IA Justices?

By Peter Hardin

A move may be afoot in Iowa’s legislature to impeach four remaining state Supreme Court justices who participated in a unanimous high court ruling that legalized same-sex marriages.

The other three Iowa justices will step down Dec. 31 because Iowans voted on Election Day to remove them, in response to an ouster campaign launched by social conservatives. It focused on the gay marriage decision.

Three state House Republicans are preparing legislation that could result in impeachment for Justices Mark Cady, David Wiggins, Daryl Hecht and Brent Appel, if it were to gain enough support to succeed, according to an Iowa Independent article.

Earlier this week, House Speaker-elect Kraig Paulsen, a Republican, said he would not get in the way if Iowans demanded impeachment for the remaining four justices (see Gavel Grab).

The Senate majority leader, Democrat Mike Gronstal, said the legislature should work on creating jobs, not on impeaching justices, unless Paulsen has evidence of a “misdemeanor or malfeasance” by the jurists.

Under Iowa’s constitution, a justice can be impeached ?for any misdemeanor or malfeasance in office.? The House minority leader, Democrat Kevin McCarthy, said, ?The House has no business spending weeks on impeachment proceedings instead of putting Iowans back to work and growing our economy.?

Ben Stone of the Iowa ACLU blasted Paulsen’s statements as “shocking” and added:

?Many Iowans are asking themselves how far these attacks on the judiciary are going to go. They are baffled at how experienced, thoughtful people who surely understand the distinct roles of the three branches of our 164 year-old government can nonetheless endorse the notion that judges should be removed for political reasons.?

Meanwhile the judge who was assigned to hear arguments Monday in a legal challenge to the retention elections (see Gavel Grab) recused himself, the Des Moines Register reported.

Judge Scott Rosenberg stepped aside because he appeared on the Election Day ballot, along with 70 other lower-court jurists.

In the retention (up-or-down) election, Justices Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit were denied reelection. You can learn more about the election and the aftermath from earlier Gavel Grab posts.

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 17, 2010 (boomark / email).