Litigation

IA Merit Selection Gets Heightened Scrutiny

By Peter Hardin

Following the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices by voters, there is mounting scrutiny of a screening commission that picks finalists for the court and of Iowa’s merit selection process for selecting judges.

A group called Iowa Judicial Watch, intending to reform judicial selection in the state, was announced, according to a Mason City Globe Gazette article.

The group accused the commissions that screen applications for judgeship of being part of a system that is “heavily stacked in favor of liberals.” It vowed to work for greater transparency and to let Iowans vote to elect members of the commissions that screen judge nominees.

Iowa Judicial Watch also said it would recruit “constitutionalist attorneys” for judgeships and for seats on the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commission, the Des Moines Register reported.

Under current law, this commission recommends finalists for the state Supreme Court and court of appeals. The panel’s 15 members include seven lawyers chosen by attorneys belonging to the state bar;  seven  non-lawyers named by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate; and the most senior state Supreme Court justice who is not the chief justice.

On its website, Iowa Judicial Watch says it is devoted to “ensuring that our courts follow the  law as it was originally publicly understood.” Its board is made up four members with “ties to right-leaning causes,” the Des Moines Register said.

Sally Pederson, a former lieutenant governor and a founder of the group Justice Not Politics,  defended Iowa’s existing merit system as insulating the courts from money and politics.

“To keep it that way, Iowans should resist efforts by special interests, like Iowa Judicial Watch, to politicize our courts,” Pederson said. “If politics and campaign money are allowed into the courts, justice will be for sale.”

In November, Iowans voted not to give another term to three justices who were up for re-election and who were part of a unanimous court ruling in 2009 that permitted same-sex marriages in the state. Conservative outside groups helped fund the ouster drive, and the vote has attracted national attention. You can learn more about the retention election vote from Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 05, 2011 (boomark / email).