This is the story Harry Coin mentioned in a comment a few days ago. The story is huge, not only for the political implications — the removal of activist judges, but that gay marriage, a moral question with the deepest cultural implications, was the driver leading to their removal.
America values the public square, which is why the great debates about morality develop a political cast, even though they can never be reduced to politics alone. When morality and politics coalesce into a seamless unit however (Progressive politics for example), America runs the risk of becoming captive to ideology (and following the failures of the Europeans — fascism, Nazism, Communism, Jacobism, and other deceptions).
The American Founders however, in their great wisdom, realized that the greatest threat to liberty is centralized power which is why the restrictions of the Bill of Rights concern the government, not individuals. Iowans, to their great credit, showed us again why the Founders were right, and why America, despite our faults, is still the home of the free.
Source: DesMoinesRegister.com
Iowans dismiss three judges
Three Iowa Supreme Court justices lost their seats Tuesday in a historic upset fueled by their 2009 decision that allowed same-sex couples to marry.
Vote totals from 96 percent of Iowa’s 1,774 precincts showed Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit with less than the simple majority needed to stay on the bench.
Their removal marked the first time an Iowa Supreme Court justice has not been retained since 1962, when the merit selection and retention system for judges was adopted.
The decision is expected to echo to courts throughout the country, as conservative activists had hoped. “It appears we’re headed for a resounding victory tonight and a historic moment in the state of Iowa,” said Bob Vander Plaats, the Sioux City businessman who led a campaign to remove the justices because of the 2009 gay marriage ruling. “The people of Iowa stood up in record numbers and sent a message … that it is ‘We the people,’ not ‘We the courts.’ ”
In a statement issued early today, the three justices said: “We hope Iowans will continue to support Iowa’s merit selection system for appointing judges. This system helps ensure that judges base their decisions on the law and the Constitution and nothing else. Ultimately, however, the preservation of our state’s fair and impartial courts will require more than the integrity and fortitude of individual judges, it will require the steadfast support of the people.”
Read the entire article on the DesMoinesRegister.com website.
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