Iowa Supreme Court 2010 results

[CatoMinor]

This is the map for Justice Baker, the other two lost with similar results.

[Bacon King]

or: "why judges should not be elected, example three hundred forty seven"

[rbt48]

or: "why judges should not be elected, example three hundred forty seven"

They aren't elected in Iowa.  The Governor makes appointments to the court.  Periodically, justicies face a retention vote.  They don't automatically serve for life.

Of course, what brought them down was their decision mandating Iowa to allow same-sex marriages.  Clearly, this was not in sync with the beliefs of the majority of the voters in Iowa.

[CatoMinor]

I disagree with the people in Iowa in this case (gay marriage), but I do love that judges do not face partisan elections, but still can be thrown out if enough people take issue with them.

[Bacon King]

I do like Iowa's system, more than the systems of many other states anyway, but the serious effort put into this campaign by anti-gay groups is a pretty serious attack against the independence of the judiciary.

On another note, I looked up information about Iowa's courts and fortunately this campaign did absolutely nothing. Besides the fact that the four members still on the court all agreed to the gay marriage decision, the governor actually has almost no power of who to appoint. In Iowa, an independent panel appointed to staggered six year terms (half by the governor and half by the state bar) and also including the longest serving associate justice, gives the governor three candidates to pick from per vacancy. So Branstad, even if he wanted to, couldn't appoint a reactionary that would reverse this decision.

[ilikeverin]

I do like Iowa's system, more than the systems of many other states anyway, but the serious effort put into this campaign by anti-gay groups is a pretty serious attack against the independence of the judiciary.

On another note, I looked up information about Iowa's courts and fortunately this campaign did absolutely nothing. Besides the fact that the four members still on the court all agreed to the gay marriage decision, the governor actually has almost no power of who to appoint. In Iowa, an independent panel appointed to staggered six year terms (half by the governor and half by the state bar) and also including the longest serving associate justice, gives the governor three candidates to pick from per vacancy. So Branstad, even if he wanted to, couldn't appoint a reactionary that would reverse this decision.

Yeah, Iowa does it Right (tm) on the judicial branch

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Hmmmm not too far off from my map guessing how a referendum to override the decision would go:



(I forgot about Ames/Storey County when I made it)

[CatoMinor]

Hmmmm not too far off from my map guessing how a referendum to override the decision would go:



(I forgot about Ames/Storey County when I made it)

You seem to underestimate the FFness of Jefferson County, and also underestimated the effectiveness of Vander Doouche's campaign in your map. quite a few of those counties that appear in the 60% range were on the verge of 70%'s, like .1% away in 3 or 4 cases, and with the exception of Linn, and a couple others, most counties that appear green on my map are green by not large numbers.