IOWA: Haters Step Up Campaign To Oust Pro-Marriage Supreme Court Judges

[WillParkinson]

IOWA: Haters Step Up Campaign To Oust Pro-Marriage Supreme Court Judges

With the assistance of NOM and Republican politicians, the campaign to oust Iowa's pro-equality Supreme Court justices is now in full swing.

"We need to vote them off the bench to send a message across Iowa that we, the people, still have the power," said Bob Vander Plaats, a Republican politician who is spearheading the campaign. "Not only will it send a message here in Iowa, but it will send a message in California, in Arizona and across the country that the courts have really taken on too much power." The Iowa campaign is a new front in the fight over same-sex marriage, a hot-button issue this year after a federal judge in California invalidated Proposition 8, that state's voter-approved ban on same-sex unions. This week, former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman disclosed that he is gay and that he supports the federal court's action in California, a case that probably will go to the U.S. Supreme Court. His announcement further fueled the emotional debate over the topic, given his stature in the GOP and his earlier involvement in efforts to mobilize voters by exploiting opposition to same-sex marriage. The effort in Iowa worries not only gay rights advocates but some legal experts who say it is wrong to punish judges for an unpopular decision.

The three justices are restricted by the judicial code of conduct as to how far they can go to push for their retention. None of them has formed a campaign committee.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/08/iowa-haters-step-up-campaign-to-oust.html

[tpsbmam]

1. Good, not too late to K&R.

I was about to post this but a quick search brought up your post. Think Progress also has this, adding the fact that this group is funded by AFA Action, "the political arm of the virulently anti-gay American Family Association." It also highlights some of AFA's "long history of hateful and delusional views about gay people," which I don't feel the need or desire to replicate here.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/27/afa-iowa-justices/

[ShadowLiberal]

2. This is another reason why we shouldn't vote on judges, civil rights suffer

If judges were all just elected politicians in a robe then many of the great civil rights victories would have taken much longer to achieve, perhaps even been impossible in some cases. I mean really, do you think a elected judge in the deep south would have stood up and said that separate but equal was unconstitutional if the case came before them?

I saw an article recently that analyzed polls from the last decade or two that came to the conclusion that people are losing faith in the judicial system being 'fair' to all, because more people are viewing judges as in the pockets of the same forces that corrupt politicians. The bigots attempt to unseat these fair judges with campaign ads against them paid for by lobbyist groups will only reinforce that trend.

[RetiredTrotskyite]

3. You Can Bet...

that these people want anyone who supports us out of office. Let us hope they do not succeed.