The FAMiLY LEADER was at the Iowa Capitol Wednesday, May 8, to witness and celebrate Gov. Kim Reynolds signing a law that reforms how Iowa nominates judges to the State Supreme Court.
The law grants Iowa’s governor an additional, Senate-confirmed appointee to the commission that nominates judges.
For years, Iowa’s system has allowed a small group of left-leaning attorneys to dominate Iowa’s judicial nomination process. Regardless of who was elected governor, the system enabled attorneys to ensure a liberal majority on Iowa’s Supreme Court – as evidenced by a study that revealed Iowa has the second most left-leaning high court (compared to the people of the state’s views) in the country.
But with the signing of this law, the people of Iowa will now be given a greater voice through their elected governor in choosing Iowa’s Supreme Court justices, hopefully providing a more ideologically balanced and representative Court.
“For the first time,” Gov. Reynolds summarized at the signing ceremony, “the majority of the nominating commission will represent the people of Iowa and not just the Bar and the Bench [referring to attorneys and judges].”
Watch TFL’s Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley explain why this is a momentous victory, over 50 years in the making:
The FAMiLY LEADER celebrates this significant improvement to the system and honors Gov. Reynolds for leading the charge to give the people of Iowa a better, fairer, and more representative form of government.
