COURTS - Lack of Understanding Supreme Courts

"Ouster of Iowa Judges Sends Signal to Bench" by A. G. SULZBERGER, New York Times 11/3/2010

Excerpt

An unprecedented vote to remove three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state was celebrated by conservatives as a popular rebuke of judicial overreach, even as it alarmed proponents of an independent judiciary.

The outcome of the election was heralded both as a statewide repudiation of same-sex marriage and as a national demonstration that conservatives who have long complained about “legislators in robes” are able to effectively target and remove judges who issue unpopular decisions.

Leaders of the recall campaign said the results should be a warning to judges elsewhere.

“I think it will send a message across the country that the power resides with the people,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor who led the campaign. “It’s we the people, not we the courts.”

But critics of the campaign, including those who see the courts as a protector of minority rights, said the politicization of uncontested judicial elections represented a danger.

“What is so disturbing about this is that it really might cause judges in the future to be less willing to protect minorities out of fear that they might be voted out of office,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. “Something like this really does chill other judges.”

Replacements for the three ousted justices will be appointed by the governor from a slate of candidates nominated by a committee of lawyers and will have to stand for periodic retention votes, a system known as merit selection.

From its first decision in 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court demonstrated a willingness to push ahead of public opinion on matters of minority rights, ruling against slavery, school segregation and discrimination decades before the national mood shifted toward racial equality.

This is scary, really bad.

I wonder is this is a sign of our broken educational system. That these supporters did not learn that the Supreme Courts of our nation (state or federal) are NOT political.

ALL Supreme Courts ARE there to judge law ONLY, not to represent the "will of the people."

Elected officials, in administrations and legislatures, are the ones who represent the "will of the people." These are the people who have to change laws, OR state/federal constitutions, to address court findings.

The courts of our land ARE the last guardians of our rights, and they cannot do this if they bow to the "will of the people."

The Supreme Courts of our land ARE there to tell administrations, legislatures, AND the people, when laws are unconstitutional.