Ballots and the Bench: The Iowa Judges
In a devastating night for Democrats, there was a notable and disturbing loss that did not draw enough attention, that of the so called “Iowa Judges”. From NPR:
Iowa voters decided to remove three State Supreme Court justices who’d overturned an Iowa ban on same sex marriage last year. Out are Iowa Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit. The full seven member panel unanimously rejected the law but not all members faced a retention vote.
No, not all seven Iowa Supreme Court judges were removed, but of the only three that were up for retention votes, all were ousted. Last year, all seven members of the Iowa Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn the Iowa law restricting marriage to between a man and a woman as violative of the constitutional right of equal protection. The conservative effort to remove the judges who had the courage to protect equality under the Constitution was an astounding result in what are normally perfunctory state judicial retention votes. So perfunctory, in fact, that no Supreme Court justice had ever been removed in Iowa since the advent of the retention vote system in 1962.
The effort to oust the Iowa Judges was heavily financed, to the tune of approximately a combined million dollars, by aggressive national anti-marriage equality groups such as the American Family Association. The Campaign for Working Families and the Washington-based Family Research Council, as well as a plethora of local fundamentalist and religious groups in Iowa.
Sadly, this is probably one of the least discussed, yet most pernicious, aspects of monetary influence in political campaigns in the wake of the much discussed Citizens United decision by the US Supreme Court. Although judicial retention elections, being non-partisan in nature, were not directly affected by the Citizens United decision to the degree normal partisan elections were, the sheer scope of large money injected will clearly have an increasing impact on them, as will this remarkable result in Iowa.
Courtrooms, especially those of the appellate level, should be places where constitutions, both state and federal, reign supreme and the rights of all citizens are respected and protected without regard to the vagaries and whims of interst groups and fundamentalist bigots of any striping. The wild success of the conservative effort to remove the Iowa Judges signals a disturbing trend in the wrong direction.
What the fuck do you expect from Iowa?
Glad I don’t live in Kentucky… Rand Paul is one scary dude.
The Fucking Scott Brown phenomenon was short lived.
Mass retuned to their senses electing all Democratic incumbents and
Deval Patrick kicked ass. Barney Frank won too…
For those bastards who float the idea to send messages, I say
poppycock… Your vote is important and if you HAVE to vote for
Dems cuz their better than any Repubs that I’ve seen. (Although I’m prejudicial, and maybe the term bastards is too harsh)
That’s what my dad would call a half-baked idea, some might say it’s not an idea at all, because to be an idea would imply thinking.
Wouldn’t it?
Show me a Republican that I could vote for and I’ll consider it..
You’re right, bmaz, reading about the Iowa Judges was one of the most chilling details of yesterday’s trampling of reality.
Michelle Bachman’s triumphant
threatspromises to dismantle the Healthcare Bill, and make the Bushco Tax-cuts permanent were the other low moment for me.The tea partyers will be gunning for the other 4 when they come up for their retention votes. One is in 2012, but the other 3 not until 3013 if I heard Iowa Public Radion correctly. Hopefully, we can get sane people to pay attention to this by then.
3013? wow, that’s quite a term! ;-)
2016. Sorry. I was fumble fingered.
I know…just trying to lighten the mood. ;-)
Yet another reason to get the damn edit feature fixed and returned.
O/T Marcy, here is an article in The Star which makes the same connection about the Khadr trial and WH waivers you did last week:
Omar Khadr trial a travesty of justice, says Dallaire
Dallaire’s new book:
They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children
This is going to be more and more of a problem, and as usual Dems will be caught flat-footed.
Here in MN, some of the judges accepted Republican party endorsement this time around.
http://bit.ly/awCwjn
“Courtrooms, especially those of the appellate level, should be places where constitutions, both state and federal, reign supreme and the rights of all citizens are respected and protected without regard to the vagaries and whims of interst groups and fundamentalist bigots of any striping. The wild success of the conservative effort to remove the Iowa Judges signals a disturbing trend in the wrong direction.”
So it’s court rulings that should be respected when the rulings fit your narrative, and when they don’t, it’s the rights of all citizens, eh? lol
America said overwhelmingly no to the auto bailouts, bank bailouts, propping up the criminal syndicates known as unions, to the toothless financial reform bill, obamacare and a host of other ill-conceived extremist agendas.
Rather than do the right thing and allow insolvent institutions to go through a guided bankruptcy to purge toxic assets, the can was/is kicked down the road so other generations have to pay. How courageous.
Why didn’t the rubes in Congress allow Americans to buy healthcare across state lines? Why wasn’t tort reform of frivolous medical lawsuits addressed as Peter Orzag has recently come forward to support?
Why does obama refer to those that disagree with him as “enemies”. is that part of the post-partisan schtick?
Why, in 2005, did Dems block legislation to GWB’s attempt to reform Fannie and Freddie? After a bill passed the Republican house, Dems blocked Senate passage. The bill would have, among other things, put a cap on the amount of mortgages they could absorb. This inconvenient fact never makes it way into any liberal rant on who was complicit in the financial mess.
Why did obama vote against GSE reform 20 times? (The answer to this one easy easy but I’ll help you: $395,000 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.)
Why did barney frank rant many times that the conditions of GSEs were sound, right up to a few months before the financial debacle? Was he just guessing and incompetent, or were they dishonest attempts to protect GSEs?
Why was franklin raines given a pass when it was discovered he cooked the books at Fannie, breaking a variety of Federal and S.E.C. laws? Rather than prosecuting him for his crimes, Dems allowed him a gigantic bonus and to walk away after hosing the American people.
obama rants ad nauseum about “the car in the ditch” but lies about who put it there. $3 trillion later under obama, and $5 trillion under pelosi, the fraud on America continues.
America spoke with one loud united voice yesterday. No more thugs, criminals and self-serving creeps (that would be most of the dems and some Repubs) in Congress. The ones we didn’t get yesterday, we’ll get in 2012. You people keep smearing, and you’ll become obsolete.
The second American Revolution has begun. We The People will prevail.
**I’ll wager this doesn’t stay posted for long, if at all. Pesky things like facts get obliterated by the left.
Yeah, right. Smell the amnesia.
No memory of the Repugs and the Bush/Cheney regime and their endless, unpaid-for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yeah, right. Smell the amnesia.
No memory of the Repugs and the Bush/Cheney regime and their endless taxbreaks for the wealthiest which has driven the concentration of America’s wealth into the fewest hands ever!
Yeah, right. Smell the amnesia.
No memory of the Repugs and the Bush/Cheney regime and their endless deregulation of all the corporate pillagers and looters who own everything including our political process, your home, and even you.
Yeah, right. Smell the amnesia.
No memory of the Repugs and the Bush/Cheney regime and their endless stacking of the Supreme Court with traitorous corporate lackeys who insist that Americans must bow to their corporate masters.
Yeah, right. Smell the amnesia.
Yeah, right. Smell the amnesia.
As you and the rest of wingnuttia blithely ignore all of the above facts.
There is no reason to take this comment down; it serves perfectly well as a prime example of an incoherent rant. You opened and framed your comment in terms of some oblique and unsupported point that there was some inconsistency in my “narrative” regarding “court rulings” and then proceeded to blubber about a laundry list of executive and legislative ills that don’t have a thing to do with court decisions. Then you end with some tripe about “The Second American Revolution”. Bravo! Oh, and “lol” right back at ya. Jeebus.
What State do you hail from?
Somewhere, Hitler is smiling.
How would you know? Judging from your post, you wouldn’t know a fact if it jumped up, bit you in the ass, and left a big scar saying F A C T.
Not a second American Revolution. The voting machines were rigged.
Methinks you’re projecting… just a bit…
Blog away. Doesn’t bother me to read your fact-free spin.
LOL. So incredibly clueless. Led around by the nose by your corporate masters. Like a dog begging for a treat.
As they say, when the real revolution comes…something about backs and walls.
Backs and walls? I thought it was knights and spits.
In the home state here we had a very large ballot of local, state and national candidates, ballot initiatives and 15 judicial “Yes” or “No” votes to cast. I have to admit I had no clue for any of the judicial candidates(?). The first thing I thought of when I saw the judges was that this will be the next institution to be polluted by Rethug corporate money,that is, if it hasn’t already been. They’ve managed to subvert the Supreme Court, why stop there.
There was a triple revocation of the terms of state supremes in California in the 1980s in a similar campaign from reactionary political parts of the spectrum. One of those removed was the chief judge, a lady named Rose Bird. Another was a member of an ethnic minority. They were targeted for their reluctance to support capital punishment. Although the CU ruling in 2010 facilitates coordination of uncoordinated wads of outside cash spent virtually without attribution, the sensationalizing of judicial elections has precedent. One of my personal complaints about even the confirmatory election process is the amount of specialized knowledge and individual research required to develop a fair picture of what each candidate*s jurisprudential history is like. I have heard that for southern CA the LA Times has aggregated a website with helpful information on judge backgrounds. I wish the Judicial Council or some independent entities took interest in providing links to a wide range of such information. I like the idea that some states have a variety of ways to conduct judicial campaigns. I know ex-associate-justice SDO*Connor has spoken extensively about her concerns in this realm; I pretty much disagree with her views, Caperton notwithstanding. However, none of this addresses the cause celebre in the IA matter, a topic which I do not cover in this remark; I think the jury is still out on that, and expect Scotus to review a case similar to VaughnWalker*s recent ruling; though I*m not sure about the ripeness issue, in the abstract.
Fair points all, especially the reminder of the California precedent. I should have remembered that quite frankly. I do, however, sense a wave of this comingwhere the CA incident had been fairly isolated in such an alarming scope – at least up until now.
There is no judge too harsh, nor a punishment too severe, for a voting public that perceives its way of life is threatened. The thing stopping progress is the media, not the politicians. When people trust propagandists on Fox, and the rest of the MSM repeats their narrative, people become frightened and vote to hurt their perceived enemies, not to help themselves or their neighbors (who might be among their perceived enemies).
The left does not control the message, nor the media that delivers it. You cannot win, long-term, without both. And, with a national party that does little to differentiate itself from the Republicans in DEED, I don’t see how anything other than brown-nosing Republicans is in the offing.
The problem is that the national party does not represent, nor does it particularly care for, the left, and has an admiration for the right that surfaces in remarks like Obama’s today.
There is one corporate government with two political parties – one that does 100% of their bidding, and one which pretends not to.
Amen to all you said; very well put. And the voting public has been carefully taught to be “very very afraid” all the time by the likes of RushGlenn & their ilk. There’s no end to the calculation, PR and money spent to push the all fear/all the time meme, especially to “fear teh eeevul LIEbruls.”
Most low-info voters, esp those brainwashed by the likes of Rupert Murdoch’s PR spin machine, are completely clueless about the US Constitution, our legal system, stare decisis, how laws are made, including in the courts, how it all fits together, etc. Clueless rubes are made to believe that citizens have the right to decide how judges should rule simply because the citizens want things they’re way.
It’s a sad fact that the third branch of our government – the legal “justice” system – is being as undermined and bought off as the legislative & executive branches. All the while the Tea Partiers joyously clap and bully… never realizing their folly and vapidity.
Yes, and boyoboy did E-Meg Whitman beat this “drum” endlessly in her ruthless me-me-me campaign to buy herself the Governor’s seat. Yet another reason – not that I needed one – why I loathe, destest and despise the entitlement queen of off-shoring jobs to third world countries, Meg Whitman. Currently doing my best immitation of the Woody Woodpecker laugh that E-Meg went DOWN like a submarine, and her chump change millions didn’t BUY her what she wanted…. this time.
Citizens are so stupid to insist that the justice system kowtow to their blighted belief systems…
every election i vow to educate myself on the judicial nominees, and every election i fail.
bmaz, do you know if there any kind of legal website that gives recommendations? or where people can go to find out more info on the nominees?
i finally found a l.a. legal site that gave enough info for me to make a couple of decisions, but i had to leave way too many sections blank.
There is also the Texas precedent.
The New Yorker article titled “The Controller
Karl Rove is working to get George Bush reëlected, but he has bigger plans.” by Nicholas Lemann May 12, 2003.
This has occurred before. From the above article-
Scratch below the surface to determine the actual funders in Iowa- and what
will the degree of separation be?
There was a well organized and financed operation for retaining the Supreme Court Justices. It was spearheaded by the Iowa Bar Association.
But, it was overwhelmed by the fundies. They are particularly strong in Northwest Iowa [King’s District]. A good example is Sioux County, which is Dutch Reformed country, where the turnout was heavy and 85% voted against retention of the Justices.
http://www.siouxcounty.org/pdf/auditor/results-1.htm
Yeah, I probably should have gone into the counter effort, which while not as well organized and funded as the fundie ouster effort, was certainly not non-existent. It was late, and that was all the energy I had left. You raise a good point though that it was the Bar Association leading the counter charge; who will do it on all the other attacks assuming they come, and it seems pretty clear there is going to be more of this type of thing going forward. The Bar can’t fend them all off by themselves, which might lead to the thought the attackers will almost always start from an advantage. I am not sure that is right, but it is my initial thought. Jeebus, my head hurts…..
Republicans realize presidents, senators and congressmen come and go. Judges last for decades.
There are only 3 branches of government. They sought out, and control, the federal judiciary, as well as the judiciary in several states. It’s a long-term effort by people who think long-term and aren’t afraid to be perceived as being on the wrong side of an issue.
Democrats can’t do this, as they’re eternally conflicted over whether they are liberal or conservative. No think tanks. No mass media. No long-term effort to get the message out. No comparable success to counter the backroom dealing Rove finds so charming. No national leader with a coherent message. Hell, with all of the “Blue Dog” Democrats, it’s one big conservative orgy in D.C.
Gosh. I wonder why the determined minority is running the show and good people keep getting screwed?
I feel a big part of this long-term/short-term issue stems from the liberal base. A large portion of the liberal voters are lower class, or poor. They need immediate results. The democratic party plays to that base by promising quick resolution to the issues effecting the base.
The GOP, on the other hand, preaches hate and ignorance and mistruth to keep their poor base engaged, while the wealthier part of the party plans for the long term.
The difference, as I see it, is the republicans can afford to think long term. They’re not going to lose their homes or their jobs. Democratic voters, in most cases, cannot afford to wait. Paycheck to paycheck living doesn’t allow for that luxury.
Again, it all comes down to money.
The money quote. Bingo. Constantly flip-flopping between the two, pleasing no one, and doing nothing of any lasting value anymore. Waste of time.
Here is some info I found on the groups supporting the ouster of the SC Justices in Iowa.
“National anti-gay groups unite to target Iowa judges. More than $500,000 spent on campaign so far”
Groups listed in this article:
American Family Association
Family Research Council
National Organization for Marriage
Faith & Freedom Coalition
Hmmm, I recognize a couple of those names…
What a petty provincial issue!
If you are gay, why do you give a fuck if the state gives you a piece of paper?
I’m hetero and I find the state an unwelcome third party in my marriage.
Too bad about the Iowa judges, but in Colorado the vote-to-retain-judges system worked well with the resounding ouster of two district court judges in Larimer County, who as prosecuters a dozen years ago helped railroad a (probably innocent) teenager to a life sentence in a then decade-old murder case. He spent 10 years in prison before new DNA evidence overturned his conviction, and the two judges were censured by the Colo SC for failing as prosecuters to provide all evidence at the time to the defense. Their sloppy work ended up costing the county and city of Fort Collins $10 million in settlements. There were calls for their resignation then, but they refused (and didn’t even apologize to the wrongly incarcerated man, which is all he asked for). The judicial evaluation commission protected their own kind by recommending that they be retained, but happily, the voters chose otherwise.
Linky thing didn’t work:
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20101103/NEWS03/11030364/Judges-Gilmore-Blair-ousted-reflecting-anger-over-Tim-Masters-case