Iowa Chief Justice Reflects On Politicization Of Judicial Elections
From the Legal Times
Judges must do a better job of educating the public about their roles in a democracy to counteract the politicization of state judicial elections, Iowa’s chief justice said on Monday.
“There is an abundance of misinformation about the courts,” Iowa chief justice Mark Cady told the first-ever “Fair Courts State Summit” in Washington, attended by advocates for judicial independence. “We need to give voters the tools” to understand and appreciate the need for fair and impartial courts, he said.
Since 2010, Cady said, his court has held sessions in 13 communities around the state and participated in more than 100 programs at high schools, colleges and universities. The goal, he said, is to “give the public a better perspective so they can see through” attacks on the courts.
Cady was speaking from experience. In 2009, he authored Varnum v. Brien, the unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as a violation of the state constitution’s equal-protection clause. The next year, three justices lost retention elections after being targeted for their votes on the issue—the first time in decades that sitting justices in Iowa had been defeated for retention.
“It was an attempt to influence judicial decision-making and an attack on fair and impartial courts,” Cady said. “We simply put too much faith in the public’s understanding of judicial independence.” The defeats compelled Cady to launch his efforts to “do our work in a more transparent way.” Cady himself faces a retention election in 2016.
The public needs to learn how important fair courts are to “the strength of our nation,” Cady said. He cited a World Bank study that found that “the most important factor by far” in fostering a strong economy is the ability of a nation’s court system to make “impartial decisions based on the rule of law.”
Cady has also been an advocate of cameras access to proceedings in both federal and state courts. His court streams oral arguments online. In his remarks Monday, Cady made no mention of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has rejected proposals for camera coverage and has not held a session outside of Washington in more than two centuries.
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From the Legal Times
Judges must do a better job of educating the public about their roles in a democracy to counteract the politicization of state judicial elections, Iowa’s chief justice said on Monday.
“There is an abundance of misinformation about the courts,” Iowa chief justice Mark Cady told the first-ever “Fair Courts State Summit” in Washington, attended by advocates for judicial independence. “We need to give voters the tools” to understand and appreciate the need for fair and impartial courts, he said.
Since 2010, Cady said, his court has held sessions in 13 communities around the state and participated in more than 100 programs at high schools, colleges and universities. The goal, he said, is to “give the public a better perspective so they can see through” attacks on the courts.
Cady was speaking from experience. In 2009, he authored Varnum v. Brien, the unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as a violation of the state constitution’s equal-protection clause. The next year, three justices lost retention elections after being targeted for their votes on the issue—the first time in decades that sitting justices in Iowa had been defeated for retention.
“It was an attempt to influence judicial decision-making and an attack on fair and impartial courts,” Cady said. “We simply put too much faith in the public’s understanding of judicial independence.” The defeats compelled Cady to launch his efforts to “do our work in a more transparent way.” Cady himself faces a retention election in 2016.
The public needs to learn how important fair courts are to “the strength of our nation,” Cady said. He cited a World Bank study that found that “the most important factor by far” in fostering a strong economy is the ability of a nation’s court system to make “impartial decisions based on the rule of law.”
Cady has also been an advocate of cameras access to proceedings in both federal and state courts. His court streams oral arguments online. In his remarks Monday, Cady made no mention of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has rejected proposals for camera coverage and has not held a session outside of Washington in more than two centuries.
Read more in our daily News Update...