Litigation

IA Editorial: Judge Selection Process ?On Trial?

By Peter Hardin

Just how “grievous” was the blow suffered by Iowa’s courts when voters chose to dump three state Supreme Court justices?

In examining the aftermath of November’s retention elections, a Des Moines Register editorial says the state’s merit-based process for picking judges is under heavy assault. The editorial goes so far as to suggest the process may be in peril:

“The process that’s been in place for nearly a half century is itself now on trial, and it is not farfetched to worry that it, too, could be removed.”

In this climate, the editorial continues, the screening and selection process for three successor justices becomes crucial. It commends a recent decision to open to the public the screening commission’s interviews of candidates (see Gavel Grab) and says judicial nominating commissions “should have conducted interviews in public all along.”

A recently filed lawsuit challenges participation by  seven lawyer members on the screening panel for state Supreme Court justices as an unconstitutional violation of the plaintiffs? equal protection rights (see Gavel Grab).

The newspaper editorial notes that similar lawsuits have gone down to defeat elsewhere. While pointing to a need for lawyers’ expertise in the process, it also suggests there might be room for change:

“[P]ublic accountability in the merit selection process might be enhanced by giving Iowans a larger voice in who serves on judicial nominating commissions. That, however, would likely require a constitutional amendment.”

Finally, the editorial concludes with support for merit selection, and a nod to the important test of the system in the selection of three new justices:

“In any case, nearly every assumption about the superiority of Iowa’s procedure for appointing judges is now open to question. This an opportunity to demonstrate that it is still the best process compared to the alternative.”

In other dispatches, Radio Iowa reported that the State Bar Association’s Board of Governors, responding to the recent lawsuit over judicial selection, passed a resolution that assailed an “attack” on the process.

?We believe these attacks on the Judicial Nominating Commission are politically-motivated by … interest groups and that they do not serve any valid purpose,” said Bob Waterman, president-elect of the State Bar Association.

A Des Moines Register article examined the current application process for the Iowa Supreme Court openings. To learn more about the historic retention elections, check out Gavel Grab.

The ousted justices were targeted after they took part in a unanimous court ruling in 2009 that permitted same-sex marriages in the state. Conservative outside groups helped fund the ouster drive, and the vote has attracted national attention.

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 15, 2010 (boomark / email).