Iowa Supreme Court Impeachment and Grassroots Support

On April 3, 2009, when the seven Iowa Supreme Court justices unanimously attempted to legalize same-sex marriage in the state many citizens believed their rights had been trampled on and their voices silenced because they never had a chance to vote on the issue.  Those that celebrated the destruction of the definition of marriage declared victory after using seven black robes who over-stepped their Constitutional duties by injecting their personal views into their decision and then legislating that view from the bench.  Because Iowa has such a complicated and long process to pass an amendment to the Constitution, the gay rights activists thought that the ruling was safe because the people of Iowa would “forget” by the time they could vote on a Marriage Amendment.

What wasn’t foreseen, however, on if people were going to “forget” is the 2010 gubernatorial primary in which the candidate Bob Vander Plaats made judicial activism the center of his campaign in response to the 2009 marriage ruling.  Unforseen also was former Governor Terry Branstad’s entrance into the race that put an end to Vander Plaats’ governor aspirations on June 8th only to have him launch another initiative, Iowa For Freedom, against the three of the seven judges on the Supreme Court who were up for a retention vote.  On November 2nd, more than a year and a half after the Varnum v. Brien decision, the initiative was a remarkable success and those three activist judges were soundly rebuked by the people of Iowa when they finally got to have some sort of say in the matter and were removed from the bench.  In the almost two months since the people of Iowa voted “no” on the retention of the three judges on the Iowa Supreme Court the media is still fascinated by the story and liberals are still complaining about a system they fully supported until the people of Iowa decided to use it.

There is now an initiative coming from three incoming House of Representative freshmen legislators who are drafting the necessary legislation to start the impeachment process, which is within Constitutional guidelines, against the four remaining Supreme Court justices .  Kim Pearson (district 42), Tom Shaw (district 8 ) and Glen Massie (district 74) are the newly elected Iowa House members who are invoking this procedure in order to deal with the remaining judges who were just as wrong as the three who overwhelmingly were voted to be removed.  Bob Vander Plaats, who is now President and CEO of The Family Leader, has taken a different approach and is encouraging the remaining judges to do the right thing and resign which would alleviate the need for the impeachment process.  Either way, it looks like it will be a long time yet before Iowans “forget” April 3, 2009, while conservatives of conviction work on reigning in out of control courts and pushing for a Marriage Amendment on the ballot.

The impeachment process will take grassroots support to show that the government is still about “we the people.”  Please contact your State Representative and State Senator and tell them that you support holding the judiciary accountable.  You can also sign this petition in order to show your support of the Articles of Impeachment.