Rule change for judicial nominating commissions prohibit governor’s involvement

A rule change that went into effect this month for Iowa’s judicial nominating commissions — whose members select nominees for district and appellate judge positions — prohibits members from discussing any applicants with Gov. Kim Reynolds before the nominations are submitted to her for appointment.

The rule amendment was approved by the State Nominating Commission in December as part of a review of the Uniform Rules of Procedure, Janece Valentine, a Fort Dodge lawyer and chair of the commission, told The Gazette.

The procedures lay out the duties of the chair, secretary and commissioners and the rules that state and district nominating commissioners must follow when selecting judicial nominees.

Valentine said the rules are periodically reviewed and amended when the Legislature changes how the commissions operate, as lawmakers did in 2019. That change gave more power to the governor by allowing her to appoint nine lay people to the state nominating commission, with the remaining eight continuing to be elected by Iowa lawyers.

Along with that change, Valentine said, lawmakers also approved omitting a senior judge as chair of the district nominating commission. In 2022, they also changed the number of nominees for an appeals court judge vacancy from three to five.

The previous commission rule stated: “Commissioners may communicate with the Governor or Governor's staff about applicants and nominees subject to the confidentiality provision in Rule 14.”

According to Rule 14, “Commission deliberations are confidential. Commissioners shall maintain their deliberations as confidential and vote for the most qualified applicants by secret ballot delivered to the secretary or his/her designee.”

This previous rule was confusing and didn’t clarify when in the process the commissioners could communicate with the governor or staff.

The amended 2025 rule states: “Once a vacancy on the court is announced, Commission members shall not discuss the applicants with the Governor before the commission meets to screen and nominate applicants and shall only communicate with the Governor after the nominations are submitted.”

Download: Amended rule.pdf

Valentine was asked if the limit on communications between commissioners and the governor came about because of a specific incident. She said no and declined to elaborate.

According to meeting minutes from Nov. 22, 2024, the commissioners discussed the proposed amendment, but the minutes don’t provide details.

Jerry Schnurr, a Fort Dodge lawyer and elected member of the commission, made the motion to replace the previous rule with the amended version, according to the minutes. Leon Spies, an Iowa City lawyer and elected member, seconded the motion.

The discussions of the commissions aren’t open to the public, Valentine noted, but the Iowa Judicial Branch posted a news release Dec. 12 regarding the amendment.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request from The Gazette for comment about the amendment.

Merit selection

Valentine said when commissioners brought up the issue, she reached out to Rachel Paine Caufield, a co-chair of the Drake University’s Department of Political Science, who is a national expert on state merit selection systems.

The commissioners asked Caufield, who has advised or consulted with them in the past, if state judicial nominating commissions in other states had a similar rule regarding communication with governor.

Caufield said she reviewed other judicial state commissions and found the rule is common in other states, specifically citing the rules in Wyoming and Rhode Island.

‘Too much politics’

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Marty Diaz, an Iowa City lawyer and former state nominating commissioner, said the amendment is a good rule but he doesn’t think it goes far enough.

“There’s already too much politics involved in the selection process,” said Diaz, who served as a commissioner from 2011 to 2019. “It doesn’t prevent intermediary interference. The rule doesn’t go far enough.”

It should have prohibited speaking to the “governor’s office,” as well as to the governor, he said.

Diaz said the basis of the merit selection system is to keep politics out of the judiciary — to maintain fair and impartial judges.

The Iowa governor now has more “influence and power” in the selection process after lawmakers allowed her to appoint nine lay people to the commission. Those appointees, he said, came in “and voted as a bloc” for certain nominees, he said.

“It’s hard enough to get judges (in Iowa),” Diaz said. “The lack of resources to the courts, pay for judges is low compared to private sector jobs, and their vacation time is limited based on (docket) demands. There are so many negatives about being a judge these days and now they have to deal with politics.”

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