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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Courts - "Legal challenge to Iowa judicial nominators is rejected"

As with challenges to the judicial selection systems for appellate judges in Kansas and Alaska, a federal court yesterday threw out a challenge to the Iowa system. For background on the previous challenges, all brought by Indiana's Jim Bopp, see this Oct. 2, 2010 ILB entry that began:

Updating this Sept. 15, 2010 ILB entry, which related that "A federal judge has denied a request to stop the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected," and this Aug. 29th entry where the ILB compared the Kansas and Indiana selection systems, this Oct. 1st story by Lisa Demer of the Anchorage Daily News reports that the 9th Circuit has rejected a similar challenge in Alaska. The headline: "Alaska's system for selecting judges is sound, court rules: Lawsuit was rejected as an attempt to change the constitution."
Here is the story written by Grant Schulte in today's DesMoines Register. Some quotes:
A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit that claimed lawyer members of the state group that nominates people to become Iowa Supreme Court justices should be chosen by voters.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt rejected arguments that seven lawyers on the 15-member commission should be excluded from the search for new Supreme Court justices. Four Iowans alleged in a lawsuit that participation by the lawyers - who are elected by other lawyers - denies them their constitutional equal protection rights.

Pratt said the plaintiffs failed to show a clear violation of their constitutional rights.

"Undoubtedly, the right to vote for political representatives is the bedrock of American democracy," Pratt wrote in the ruling. "In this case, however, plaintiffs are asking the court to radically expand the scope of this fundamental right beyond all existing precedent and to recognize an entirely new 14th Amendment 'right' to greater influence in the selection of judges."

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys from the Indiana-based James Madison Center for Free Speech, a right-leaning legal group, on behalf of four Iowans.

See also this background article from Dec. 5, 2010.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 20, 2011 09:28 AM
Posted to Courts in general