Judicial Independence
Having a fair, impartial perspective and decision-maker for a case in any court of law is the ideal standard of our judicial system and in upholding our nation’s constitutional values and democracy. In Iowa we are fortunate to have a merit selection and retention process which does an excellent job of keeping our courts fair and impartial.
Unfortunately in other states, many judges are not appointed by a merit system, rather they are elected with great influence by political favoritism, partisan groups and/or large special interest financiers.
Judicial Independence is the principle that the Judicial Branch of our government should not be improperly influenced from the other branches of government (the legislative and executive powers) or from partisan interests or financial contributors’ influence. The Judicial branch is the branch of our government that rules cases by law and fact, and not by a popular or political agenda. All cases should be subject to the same standard of law and protected by the law from any form of outside influence, regardless. It is a matter of public trust.
It is important to uphold the values of democracy in our judicial system; to maintain a fair and impartial system free of political or popular influence. Without this system, we would not be adequately protecting individual rights or serving the Constitution.
In 1962, Iowa became the fourth state to select a merit plan for choosing judges. It is important that we defend Iowa’s current plan and fight for for all states in our nation to adopt similar plans to defend our law, constitution, and democratic values.
Read the Position Statement on Judicial Independence from the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.
From the American Judicatory Society….
Judicial Selection in the States: Iowa
The Iowa judiciary is composed of two appellate courts--the supreme court and the court of appeals -- and the unified district court. Iowa judges are chosen through merit selection, where a nominating commission identifies a list of highly qualified candidates and the governor appoints a judge from that list. After one year in office, and then at regular intervals, judges stand in retention elections. Since Iowa adopted a merit plan with retention elections, only four judges have not been retained.
To educate voters regarding judges who are standing for retention, the web site of the Iowa judicial branch provides basic information such as year of appointment to the bench, prior legal experience, law school and undergraduate degrees, professional association memberships, and honors and awards. In addition, the Iowa State Bar Association conducts a poll asking its members whether they approve of judges who are up for retention. The results of the poll are made public prior to the election.
Further information can be found on the following websites:
http://new.abanet.org/committees/judind/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.ajs.org/cji/cji_resources.asp
http://www.ajs.org/pe/PDFs/jud_indep_lessonplan1.26.10.pdf
http://www.lambdalegal.org/take-action/campaigns/fair-courts-project/fair-courts-faq.html
For news accounts on the subject, please click on the following links:
