Iowa eyes changes in judge selection
State official cites efforts to ‘legislate from the bench’
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa was in the forefront of a national effort to reduce partisanship in the courts nearly 50 years ago when it decided to stop electing judges and instead rely on nominations by a panel of citizens and lawyers. In all, about three dozen states adopted similar systems aimed at emphasizing legal expertise over politics.
But now Republicans who control the governor’s office and the Legislature say it’s time to give politicians greater control. House and Senate leaders are moving to change how judges are chosen after being repeatedly frustrated by court rulings on topics like gay marriage and abortion.
“Over the last 20 years there’s been more and more judicial activism where the Supreme Court justices are trying to legislate from the bench,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver said days before the legislative session began.
The Iowa proposal appears to be part of a national effort in conservative states to bring the courts into sync with the other branches of Gop-led government.
Iowa is among at least four states where Republican lawmakers are trying to lessen the role of attorneys on judicial nominating panels, a move that some critics say could lessen public faith in the judiciary.
“It makes it increasingly difficult for the public to view judges as anything but politicians in robes,” said Douglas Keith, a counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. “They need to serve as a check on other branches, and to appear that way in the public’s eyes.”
The Iowa proposal would allow legislative leaders rather than lawyers to select attorneys for a state panel that nominates judges for the Iowa Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The governor, who also appoints members to the panel, chooses judges from among the finalists provided by the panel.
Iowa created its system in 1962, when voters amended the state constitution.
Iowa legislative leaders say the change is a way to give power to elected officials rather than private attorneys, but key supporters initially acknowledged the plan was born from frustration at court rulings, starting with a 2009 decision that legalized gay marriage.
“It’s just a matter of accumulation of dozens and dozens and dozens of activist rulings from the court,” said Whitver.