Posted on 11/02/2010 11:20:13 PM PDT by 11th_VA
All three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for retention election have been ousted from the bench.
Around 54 percent of Iowans voted not to retain each of the three judges: Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and associate justices Michael J. Streit and David L. Baker. The campaign for the judges ouster was based on the court’s unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.
There were 74 judges, including three Supreme Court justices, on the ballot Tuesday. Only the Supreme Court justices, however, came anywhere close to being removed from the bench.
The highly charged campaign featured more than $1 million in spending against the judges from national anti-gay organizations like the Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage. The campaign culminated in a 20-city bus tour across Iowa.
The groups pushing for ouster promised that this was simply the first battle in a nationwide war against gay marriage and gay rights.
“If you rise up you will see states calling, other people from other states phoning and e-mailing and coming to find out how you did it because they too want to take their state back,” said Tamara Scott, of the Concerned Women of America’s Iowa chapter and a participant in the bus tour.
Despite the ouster of the judges, though, same-sex marriage continues to be legal in Iowa, and outgoing Democratic Gov. Chet Culver has the authority to appoint the judges’ successors.
Will the voters be tried and convicted of a “hate crime?”
“I think everry judge should face the possibility of being ousted by the voters,right up to the Supreme Court.”
Yeah, but there’s that pesky little detail of the Constitution standing in the way of that...
this changes nothing guys; it was a pointless, stupid thing to do. If you want “gay” “marriage” banned in Iowa this was not the way to go.
1) the court case that decided same-sex marriage was voted for 7-0 on the Iowa S. Court. basic math tells you that there still is majority on the court that believes there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. It doesn’t matter who is put in the slots, 4 remains greater then 3.
2) there is barely any hint of a plausible legal path way for the issue of “should Iowa issue marriage licenses to homosexuals?” to be, again, reviewed by the court; Some agency or private party would have to show it has standing for that question for it to be reviewed; I can’t think of how this could possibly be the case. Cases of, say, church groups be forced to preform weddings for homosexuals would not bring up this issues. the question in that case is “can church groups be forced by the state to preform homosexual “marriages?” This doesn’s get at nor brings up the underlying question that needs to be overturned
So right now we have no clear way to get a “homosexual” marriage overturned at the case level, and even if it did it still in all likelihood go down anyway with the S. Court.
3) as the article says the out going governor gets to select the new justices, so likely “yes” votes replace the out going yes votes.
nothing was accomplished by this. meanwhile the amendment process has hit a huge road block in the senate majority leader (a democrat) who, on Wednesday no less, stated that he will not allow a homosexual “marriage” ban to come to the senate floor as long as he is senate majority leader. This will be for at least 2 more years as republican will not take the senate, at best they will split the state senate 25-25. I really don’t see how any more pressure can be brought to bare on this guy.
NOM, and the other groups, spent a ton of money to ouster the judges...and it did nothing. and it might have turned off people given the viciousness, and shear pointlessness of the action.
this gets a big o’ whoop from me.
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