Iowa voters decide fate of 68 judges, 1 justice

Iowa voters this November will vote “Yes” or “No“ on retaining one state Supreme Court justice, four appellate judges and 64 district court judges.

This month, the Iowa Bar Association released its “Judicial Performance Review” that evaluated all 69 up for a Nov. 5 retention vote on their professionalism and demeanor. The survey was sent to 5,614 active bar members, and 1,045 of them completed it — almost 19 percent overall, although the participation rate varied by judge.

Out Iowa’s 14 judicial districts, 13 have at least one judge standing for retention this year.

In the merit-selection process, which Iowa adopted in 1962, judges who receive a majority of “yes” votes stay on the bench. The retention election started when an Iowa constitutional amendment for a nonpartisan, merit-based process replaced a partisan process of electing judges.

Under the system, a commission vets applicants for an open judge position and forwards three finalists to the governor, who appoints one. Every judge is up for voter retention at the next general election after serving a full year. After that, they appear on the ballot near the end of each term.

According to the bar association’s performance review, each of the judges has a different number of respondents. Bar members must have sufficient contact and experience with a judge to evaluate him or her. The lawyers should have firsthand experience with a judge; or have practiced before the judge or were reasonably familiar with the judge’s work; or were familiar with the judge’s opinions — as in the appellate courts.

The eligible lawyers assess the judges on their professional competence, including knowledge of the law, demeanor and temperament, communication skills, timeliness of rulings, clarity and quality of written opinions and impartiality. The judges are rated on a scale of 1 (very poor), 2 (below average), 3 (adequate), 4 (above average) and 5 (outstanding).

The majority of the judges up for retention received an “adequate” or “above average“ rating. None received an “outstanding” rating, which appears to be typical based on past evaluations over the years.

Individual ratings

Justice David May, who was appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2022 by Gov. Kim Reynolds, was rated by 278 respondents who gave him a retention percentage of 64.7.

May scored average or above average in individual categories: 3.6 for knowledge and application of the law; 3.8 for perception of factual issues; 4 for attentiveness to arguments and testimony; 4.1 for temperament and demeanor; 3.7 for clarity and quality of written opinions; and 4 for promptness of rulings and decisions.

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Judges also are rated on whether they decide cases on the basis of law and fact without being affected by outside influence; are courteous and patient with litigants, lawyers and court personnel; and treat people equally regardless of race, gender, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or disability and demonstrate awareness of the influence of implicit bias. They are rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

May’s highest rating was a 4.2 for being courteous and patient with litigants, lawyers and court personnel. His lowest was 3.2 for deciding cases on basis of applicable law and fact, not affected by outside influence.

There has been some speculation that May could be at risk of not receiving enough “yes” votes to be retained because he was one of four justices this summer who upheld a law that bans abortion in Iowa after about six weeks of pregnancy. The other three justices who agreed with him are not up for retention votes this cycle.

The issue recalls an opinion in 2009 to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The next year, Iowans voted to remove three Supreme Court justices — Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit — who had ruled to legalize it.

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“I can’t say whether Justice May is at risk in the retention election, but I can say judicial independence is definitely at risk if folks foolishly vote ‘no’ on a judge because of disagreement with one opinion,” said Guy Cook, a Des Moines lawyer, a former Iowa State Bar Association president and member of the State Judicial Nominating Commission, and current chair of the association’s Independence of the Judiciary Committee.

“Judges don’t issue opinions in return for votes,” Cook said. “Judges apply the facts and law as best they can from their perspective. Retribution against a judge for a single ruling undermines judicial independence, which benefits us all.”

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Cook said if citizens disagree with a ruling, they could ask their legislators to amend the law, or vote against the legislators who passed the abortion ban and the governor who signed the law.

Other judge’s reviews

The four appeals judges up for retention are Tyler Buller of Johnston, appointed in 2022; Mary Chicchelly of Cedar Rapids, appointed in 2021; Samuel Langholz of Ankeny, appointed in 2023; and Chief Judge Mary Tabor of Des Moines, appointed in 2010.

Chicchelly received the highest retention percentage of 94.5 from 183 respondents, and Langholz received the lowest retention percentage of 64 from 186 respondents. Chicchelly, Buller and Tabor received 4 or better in the performance and demeanor categories and Langholz received 3 or better.

Of the 64 district judges, most received retention percentages of 80 or higher and one, Fifth C District Judge Rachael Seymour, received below majority with 46.8.

There were four district judges who received retention percentages of 100. They include 2nd Associate District Judge Elizabeth Batey; 3rd District Judge Robert Tiefenthaler; 8th Associate District Judge Patrick McAvan; and 8th District Judge Shane Wiley.

In the 6th Judicial District, which includes Linn, Johnson, Benton, Iowa, Jones and Tama counties, three district judges — Andrew Chappell, David Cox and Elizabeth Dupuich — and three associate district judges — Joan Black, Brandon Schrock and Nicholas Scott — are up for retention votes.

The Iowa Judicial Branch provides an Iowa Voter’s Judicial Directory each election year that contains biographies on each judge up for retention. The directory includes information about each judge’s background, education, career and professional activities.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com