By Bob Vander Plaats There have been several points raised in a number of newspaper editorials in support of the retention of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins that are highly misleading. The Register recently ran an editorial citing Clark v. Board of Directors of the Muscatine Schools, an 1868 case in which the Iowa [...]
By Nathan Tucker In what can charitably be described as an act of political expediency, Iowa’s most conservative member of Congress embraced an activist decision by the U.S. Supreme Court as “constitutional” and encouraged those who thought otherwise to do something “constructive.” At their fifth and final debate, Democrat Christie Vilsack challenged Congressman Steve King [...]
By Nathan Tucker In the debate over the upcoming judicial retention vote in Iowa, defenders of Justice Wiggins argue that his judicial career shouldn’t be decided solely by his vote legalizing gay marriage in Varnum. Instead, they want “a broader legal case against Wiggins…that [digs] into other aspects of his 10 years on the court [...]
By Nathan Tucker In its 2009 Varnum decision, a unanimous Iowa Supreme Court discovered a right to gay marriage in the state’s constitution. Disgusted, two years ago Iowa voters took the unprecedented step of removing the three justices who stood for retention that year. This year, as Justice Wiggins, a fourth member of the Varnum [...]
By Nathan Tucker In remarks at Drake Law School’s inaugural Iowa Constitution Lecture Series in March, the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court made the remarkable assertion that he is Mr. Constitution, literally. Proclaiming that our “Iowa Constitution has always been a living constitution,” Chief Justice Cady assigned to the Court the role of [...]
The Des Moines Register is reporting that the three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were not retained by Iowa voters in the 2010 election will be presented the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award this May at the JFK Presidential Library. The library’s website states, “The Profile in Courage Award seeks to make Americans [...]