Litigation

?Think About Resigning,? IA Justices are Urged

By Peter Hardin

Four Iowa Supreme Court justices ought to consider stepping down now that voters have cast ballots to remove three of their colleagues, a leader of the successful ouster campaign said.

Bob Vander Plaats of Iowa for Freedom isn’t asking for resignations right now, he said, but for the justices to weigh last week’s vote, Radio Iowa reported. In a retention election, three justices who were up for reelection were dumped by state voters angry over a unanimous court ruling that permitted same-sex marriage in Iowa. Here is what Vander Plaats said:

?I do believe those four justices do need to think about the message that was sent on November two, and I believe that they fully realize that if they would have been on that ballot along with their three other peers, that they would have been voted off too.

?So as the appointment process takes place I believe they need to take a look at a timeline and see if that?s something that they would choose to do, is to step down to make sure that they honor the court, and they don?t disrupt the court proceedings by not having a quorum.?

As the ouster vote in Iowa continued to provoke reaction around the country, meanwhile, an editorial in the Scranton (Pa.) Times-Tribune, headlined “Money as gavel,” decried the Iowa results:

“Monied interests who didn’t like an Iowa Supreme Court decision brought down their own gavel – cash.”

“Iowa’s experience should be a warning to Pennsylvania, where judicial races will be on the ballot next year, and where there are no restrictions on contributions. Pennsylvania already has been infected by campaigns politicizing legal decisions. The Iowa case will encourage more of the same.

“State lawmakers should mandate limits on campaign contributions, and strict disclosure.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 12, 2010 (boomark / email).