Litigation

JAS Impeachment Critique is Cited

By Peter Hardin

A statement by Justice at Stake executive director Bert Brandenburg on a proposal to impeach four Iowa Supreme Court justices drew extensive news media coverage.

In the statement, Brandenburg warned, “Impeachment is not a wrecking ball to be used every time we disagree with their decisions.” In the state’s emotional debate over same-sex marriage, he said, “Iowans have better choices [than impeachment]. There are ways to pursue the marriage debate that don?t endanger Iowa?s courts, government and economy. The public should urge lawmakers to end any impeachment talk now.”

The statement was reported in a Des Moines Register blog. It was featured in articles in  the Omaha World-Herald and the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil. It also was reported by Newser, an online aggregator of news, and the American Constitution Society blog.

An op-ed by Brandenburg on the impeachment proposal, first published by the Washington Post, was reprinted in The Miami Herald and the Brainerd (Mn.) Dispatch.

Several state House Republicans have proposed impeaching four state Supreme Court justices for a unanimous high court ruling in 2009 that legalized same-sex marriages. On Election Day, voters removed three other justices who were on a retention ballot (see related Gavel Grab post today).

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 10, 2011 (boomark / email).