Iowa Justices To Leave Office Despite State Legal Challenge

From The Des Moines Register and Alliance Defense Fund:

Justices to leave office despite state legal challenge [video]


Blog post by Grant Schulte • gschulte@dmreg.com • December 20, 2010




Three Iowa Supreme Court justices voted out of office last month will leave as scheduled, despite a legal challenge that had sought to keep them on the bench.



Lawyers who contend the Nov. 2 retention vote was unconstitutional said this morning that they will drop their push to temporarily prevent the justices from leaving office.



But the three Des Moines-area lawyers said they will continue to press their claim that justices and judges up for retention should appear on ballots separate from other political candidates.



The lawyers halted their effort to keep the justices in office after they learned that the justices would fight their claim, which was filed in Polk County District Court.



Jeff Thompson, the state’s deputy attorney general for litigation, emphasized that the justices were resisting the challenge in their official capacities as justices, and not individuals.



The attorneys – Thomas W. George, John P. Roehrick and Carlton Salmons – said the Iowa Constitution requires judges to stand for retention on ballots separate from the governor, state lawmakers and other elected figures.



Last month’s retention vote marked the first time in state history that justices were removed from office since Iowa adopted a merit-based selection and retention system in 1962. The justices – Michael Streit, David Baker, and Chief Justice Marsha Ternus – were all part of a unanimous decision last year that allowed same-sex couples to marry.



The claim names the three justices as defendants as well as Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro, who serves as the state’s elections commissioner.



The terms for the justices expire on Dec. 31.