Judge in Iowa Freedom to Marry decision denounces ouster effort

September 23, 2010

Posted by Josh Nelson on wcfcourier.com:

"An effort to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices for their role in striking down Iowa's ban on the freedom to marry is at best 'misguided' and at worst 'an abuse' of the system, said the Polk County District Court judge who first ruled on the case.

"Judge Robert Hanson said Tuesday that those who are trying to unseat Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices Michael Streit and David Baker don't understand how the courts operate. He included Iowans For Freedom, a group started by former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats. The group is running television ads against retention.

"'The activity that is advocated by these TV commercials that are now airing, in my view, demonstrates a complete misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding of the role of the judiciary in our form of government,' Hanson said during an panel discussion at Wartburg College.

"In a 2007 case called Varnum V. Brien, Hanson struck down Iowa's 10-year-old ban on marriage equality. In describing the rationale behind his decision, Hanson said he had to evaluate whether the ban met constitutional requirements for due process and equal protection in a civil contract - which is how marriage is defined under law.

"'The determination was made that it was not fair to single out that group of people - homosexuals - and deny them the opportunity to participate in that kind of a relationship,' he said.

"The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld his ruling in 2009 and set off a political firestorm that included debate over changing Iowa's merit-based judicial selection process. It also sparked the Iowa For Freedom campaign against the justices' retention.

"Hanson said the effort is an attempt to politicize the bench.

"'You're being asked to turn this retention vote into a referendum on one decision amongst hundreds of thousands of decisions,' he said. 'That's not what the retention system is intended to do.'

"Hanson is one of several judges up for retention this year, but there haven't been any efforts to oust him. In 2007, a group of conservatives launched an unsuccessful attempt to have Hanson impeached."

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