Litigation

Iowa: Historic Vote Removes Three Justices

By Peter Hardin

Iowa voters swept three justices off the state Supreme Court as they showed  ire over a unanimous high court ruling that permitted same-sex marriage. The retention election was watched nationally.

“The decision is expected to echo to courts throughout the country, as conservative activists had hoped,” the Des Moines Register reported.

The vote represented “a rebuke of the state supreme court with implications for judicial elections across the country,” according to a New York Times article, which noted similar ouster campaigns in other states and “the rapid politicization of judicial races that had been specifically designed to be free of intrigue.”

It was the first time since Iowa adopted its merit system for selecting judges almost 50 years ago that voters dumped an Iowa justice, and the upset was regarded as historic.

Targeted in a heated ouster drive funded partly by national conservative groups were Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and fellow Justices Michael Streit and David Baker. Voters removed all of them.

“The people of Iowa stood up in record numbers and sent a message … that it is ‘We the people,’ not ‘We the courts,’ ” said Bob Vander Plaats, a former GOP gubernatorial candidate and a leader of the ouster drive.

The three justices said in a statement:

“We hope Iowans will continue to support Iowa’s merit selection system for appointing judges. This system helps ensure that judges base their decisions on the law and the Constitution and nothing else. Ultimately, however, the preservation of our state’s fair and impartial courts will require more than the integrity and fortitude of individual judges, it will require the steadfast support of the people.”

Commented Drake University Law School Dean Allen Vestal blasted “misuse” of the retention election:

“In the end, the aggressive campaign to misuse the judicial retention vote, funded by out-of-state special interests, has succeeded… The loss of these three justices is most unfortunate, and the damage to our judicial system and the merit selection of judges will take much to repair.”

According to an Associated Press article, gay marriage foes were emboldened by the outcome, and they said they would seek a gay marriage ban in conversations with Republicans who took command of the governor’s office and state House.

Among outside groups bankrolling the ouster drive were the National Organization for Marriage and the American Family Association.

Leaders of the ouster campaign had their eye “on highlighting to judges elsewhere, including those on the United States Supreme Court, the risks associated with leapfrogging public opinion on the issue of same-sex marriage,” according to the New York Times article.

You can read details about funding of the ouster drive, and reaction from the Justice at Stake Campaign, in a JAS statement issued today.

According to unofficial returns, it appeared that voters retained Polk County Judge Robert Hanson, whose 2007 ruling led to the controversial state Supreme Court opinion on same-sex marriage.

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 03, 2010 (boomark / email).