Lawmakers scale back judicial nominating plan

DES MOINES - House Republicans introduced a scaled-back plan Friday to tweak the process that places judges on the bench in Iowa and it was met with no more enthusiasm from Democrats than earlier proposals.

Republicans conceded Friday they did not have the votes to approve their plan to reduce the bar association's role in evaluating applicants for the state Supreme Court and appellate court.

'I think our initial proposal was very good, but we did not have the support to get there,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Steve Holt, R-Denison, adding some members had concerns --- with which he disagreed --- that the initial proposal politicized the process by allowing state lawmakers to appoint commission members. 'But in addressing those concerns, we looked at is there a way to achieve a similar objective. ... I like where we've landed.”

Democrats countered that the latest plan was an even more blatant attempt by Republicans to control the courts than an earlier proposal to have the governor appoint eight members of the nominating commission and majority and minority legislative leaders appointing a total of eight. The senior judge on the Supreme Court also would be a commission members.

The proposal introduced Friday as legislators crept closer to adjourning for the year would eliminate the Supreme Court member and give the governor one more appointee.

'At the end of the day this is a power grab, this is politicizing our courts,” House Minority Leader Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, said at a midnight news conference.

'It's giving the executive branch more power to influence the judicial branch,” Prichard said. 'I doubt the proposals are constitutional. I don't think the Legislature should be involved, nor does it have the authority to decide how the chief justice is picked.”

The latest version of judicial nominating reform is a shadow of the overhaul Republicans started with. Although the Senate passed judicial nominating reform 32-17, the version unveiled in the House was the result of negotiations in order to garner enough Republican votes to get it passed, Holt said. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the House.

Currently, Iowa's state judicial nominating commission interviews applicants to the Iowa Supreme Court and state appeals court, and creates a list of finalists for openings. The governor then appoints a judge from that list of finalists.

Currently, half of the state judicial nominating commission's members are selected by the Iowa State Bar Association and half are appointed by the governor, subject to approval by the Iowa Senate. And the senior-most Supreme Court Justice who is not the chief justice also serves on the commission, as its chairperson.

Republican state lawmakers earlier this year proposed taking away the bar association nominations, giving those appointments instead to legislative leaders.

'Hundreds of thousands of people elect the governor, so having her have that one more (appointment to the commission), I think, does give that additional voice to the people while leaving the important aspect of the attorneys' voice in the process,” Holt said.

Prichard questioned whether the new plan was even constitutional.

'It's giving the executive branch more power to influence the judicial branch,” he said. 'I doubt the proposals are constitutional. I don't think the Legislature should be involved, nor does it have the authority to decide how the chief justice is picked.”

If lawmakers begin 'messing” with the separation of powers it could endanger the independence of the judiciary, Prichard said.

'This is a slow erosion, in my mind, of that independence that the judiciary needs to protect individual rights and liberties,” he said.

Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group that was one of a few supporters of judicial nominating changes, was not enthusiastic with the latest plan.

'There are a few things that signify modest improvements,” spokesman Drew Klein said. 'I have a hard time uttering the words, ‘I'm supportive.' I think it became, ‘This is all they could get done this year.'”

Still, Republican leaders in both the House and Senate appeared to be in agreement on the revised proposal that House Republicans inserted into in the budget bill Senate File 638, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=88&ba=sf638.

'I'm pleased with the progress that has been made. We've upheld our principal of trying to make at least a majority of people on the commission picked by someone who's accountable to the state of Iowa, and I think this achieves that,” said Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs.

Officials with the Iowa Bar Association did not respond to requests for comment Friday night, and lobbyists for the association at the Capitol declined to comment.

The proposal also lowers the number of signatures required for an attorney to be considered for a judicial vacancy and limits the Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice to two-year terms, after which a leadership vote must be retaken.