Question of the week: Do you believe the Iowa Supreme Court has committed any actions requiring impeachment?

Iowa Supreme Court

Last week, we asked you if you believe that the federal government should enact legislation to restrict more firearms in the wake of the Tucson Tragedy. 82 residents responded with 59 residents (72%) voting no, 22 residents (27%) voting yes, and 1 resident (1%) voting unsure. The question of the week poll is unscientific and does not reflect the views of Osky News.

This week, we shift to an issue that has been in the news off and on for a few weeks now. Since last November’s retention vote, we have heard calls from Republican Activist Bob Vander Plaats and other Republican members of the Iowa House to resign from the bench as a result of the retention vote. Vander Plaats has said that if those justices don’t resign, they could face impeachment.

Late last week, we heard the state of the Judiciary address from interim Chief Justice Mark Cady. In his speech, Cady defended the ruling that sparked the campaign to oust the Iowa Supreme Court. Cady also noted that in the history of the state, the Iowa Supreme Court has overturned Iowa laws 150 times by declaring them “unconstitutional”. However, Cady did not mention anything about impeachment of the justices in his speech.

Some freshman Republican house members have called for the impeachment of justices because of their ruling on gay marriage last year. They say that because they overturned Iowa law keeping marriage between a man and woman, they went out of their constitutional authority and created a new law. Democrats have condoned these charges by saying that the Iowa Supreme Court has the right based on judicial review to declare laws unconstitutional. Democrats also cite Mark Cady’s speech saying the court has previously done this 150 times in Iowa history. Governor Branstad recently commented on the debate to impeach the justices. Branstad spoke against impeachment but did say that Iowan’s deserve the right to be able to vote on the justices.

Now it’s your turn to decide. Vote in our online poll. The poll will be open until next Sunday at 9 pm when we will close the poll and release the final voting numbers. If you have any questions please contact us at info@oskynews.org