Iowa: Judge Retention Question: 3 Supremes OUSTED!

Vanity Press ^ | 11/2/10 | Moi

[Keith in Iowa]

Tweet from WHO Radio, Des Mines, Iowa: All five Iowa incumbent Congressmen win re-election Branstad defeats Cuvler. 3 Supreme Court justices lose retention vote.

[Keith in Iowa]

from http://www.iowaelectionresults.gov/

Supreme Court Justice - David L. Baker Precincts Reported 1615/1774 Yes 402392 45.69% No 478297 54.31%

Supreme Court Justice - Michael J. Streit Precincts Reported 1615/1774 Yes 402113 45.57% No 480307 54.43%

Supreme Court Justice - Marsha Ternus Precincts Reported 1615/1774 Yes 397094 44.95% No 486407 55.05%

Results based on the question 'shall the judge be retained in office'...

Never before has one Supreme Court Justice been removed on a retention question - tonight, It was 3 justices not retained. Historical is an under-statement.

[Krankor]

some background on why they were ousted

[tennmountainman]

Great news! Strip them of their robes!

[USNBandit]

What did they do? I was hoping for a similar result in Nevada several years ago when they overruled the 2/3 requirement to raise taxes. Unfortunately, that never materialized.

[Stayfrosty]

That is amazing. Did it have anything to do with the judges voting for gay marriage?

[Soul Seeker]

YES!!

[icwhatudo]

some background on why they were ousted

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>That is amazing. Did it have anything to do with the judges voting for gay marriage?

Bingo.

[Keith in Iowa]

Near Final Results...

Supreme Court Justice - David L. Baker
Precincts Reported 1703/1774
Yes 427363 45.73%
No 507163 54.27%

Supreme Court Justice - Michael J. Streit
Precincts Reported 1703/1774
Yes 426618 45.59%
No 509251 54.41%

Supreme Court Justice - Marsha Ternus
Precincts Reported 1703/1774
Yes 421203 44.96%
No 515610 55.04%

[MediaMole]

So, what happens now? Are three more liberal judges appointed?

[SeaHawkFan]

I was going to post a response, but that pictures says it all.

[Lancey Howard]

Awesome news!
Man, tonight just keeps getting better.

I hope Sandra Day O’Connor is soiling herself.

[Keith in Iowa]

That would depend on what the nominating commission does... All eyes will be upon them...

[Pappy Smear]

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the Iowa law forbidding gay marriage was unconstitutional. So now in Iowa it is legal for same sex couples to get married.

In Iowa, judges do not run for election per se. They get appointed. But they do go on the ballot with the question, "Should Judge Joe Schmoe be retained? Yes/No.

No Iowa Supreme Court Judge has ever not been retained, so this is a historical vote. All 3 of them on the ballot this time got rejected. And it was obviously due to their vote on gay marriage. (the other 6 judges that voted for it were not on the ballot this year)

The usual leftists, and the bar association started running ads to protect them with all sorts of weird justification---don't politicize the judiciary (huh?), just because a referee makes a bad call, you don't fire him (huh?), they were just doing their job, and there is nothing in the Iowa Constitution that prohibits same sex marriage, yadda yadda.

I have always voted no on judges, just to shake up those weasly lawyers. Prior to tonite, the Guv, and both the Iowa House and Senate were controlled by Ds, and did not put up a Constitutional Amendment to the ballot to ban gay marriage, despite much cry for one. The guv and Iowa house have flipped to R, and maybe the Senate too. We shall see if that makes it to a future ballot.

[Keith in Iowa]

FYI ping - history has been made.

[cherry]

why would the oh so conservative and moral Iowans vote this dramatically and then turn around and be big democrats for zero....

it does not compute....

[Pappy Smear]

Kinda surprised the judges got voted out. But Iowa is a kooky state that loves its incumbents. All 5 US Congress incumbents were re-elected (3 D, 2 R). US Senate incumbent re-elected (R). Guv flipped D to R, but to someone who was governor for 16 years prior, so that is basically an incumbent.

All the statewide offices held with the incumbent, with the exception of what appears of a flip of the Secretary of State from D to R. (Auditor, Sec of Ag stay R. AG, Treasurer stay D) Makes no sense.

All 3 of the CDs that retained their D congress critters who range from flaming lib to moderate D, all voted overwhelmingly for Chuck Grassley for US Senate, who is pretty conservative as US Senators go. Obviously large amounts of people voted for candidates with completely opposing viewpoints.

[goat granny]

In Michigan, the governor appoints to SC, but they then have to run on non=partisan ballot to stay. Thats the only reason that Michigan SC is on the conservative side....we had 5 on the ballot with only able to vote for 2, the 2 were listed as incumbent and were conservative justices.

I don't get local channels so don't know what happened. Maybe someone from Michigan knows..

[chilltherats]

That’s probably because for the first time a number of people actually looked into their decisions/rulings.

[Gondring]

So, what happens now? Are three more liberal judges appointed?

Let's hope the pressure is kept up so that doesn't happen! Theoretically, the outgoing governor could do that!

I cheered aloud when I saw Terry Branstad had defeated Gov. Chet Culver, but he doesn't take office immediately. Iowa's system needs fixin'!

Then again, one of these three outgoing "justices" was appointed by Gov. Branstad. :-(