A quiet judicial retention campaign in Iowa

Once the stuff of big buses and big bucks, this fall's 'campaign” to oust Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled for marriage equality has gone subcompact.

Long gone are the boisterous campaigns that rumbled across Iowa in 2010 and 2012, waged by culture warriors determined to punish justices for striking down Iowa's ban on same-sex marriage in 2009. Three justices lost their seats in 2010, but Justice David Wiggins survived in 2012. The two battles combined cost more than $2 million, with retention foes spending the most.

This time around, the crusade has been downsized.

Common Sense PAC, based in north central Iowa, has spent nearly $17,000, mostly on campaign signs targeting three justices up for retention, Brent Appel, Daryl Hecht and Chief Justice Mark Cady. On its website, Common Sense insists Iowa's judiciary is basing its rulings on 'the evolutionary laws of man instead of the static laws of nature and its Creator God.”

The Family Leader, which took a prominent role in past anti-retention efforts, donated just $5,000 so far to Common Sense. Bob Vander Plaats, the top Family Leader, has publicly urged voters to vote no, but is hardly leading the charge.

On the other side, Justice Not Politics, which favors retaining the justices, is spending more than $89,000 on direct mail appeals. Most of the bucks came from lawyers and law firms. But the justices themselves are refusing to campaign, contending the court should stay out of electoral politics.

I doubt they have much to worry about. Then again, this has been a political year that's defied prediction and convention. Perhaps there's more to this subcompact campaign than meets the eye. They're being very, very quiet, these judge-hunters. Too quiet.

But maybe this is a job for a pundit named Captain Obvious. And what's obvious is the marriage issue that once sparked such angst and outrage can no longer move the masses. Iowa has had legal same-sex marriages for more than seven years, and none of the crusaders' prophecies of doom and gloom and disaster have come to pass. Instead, equality has become increasingly popular.

On top of all that, the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land in a landmark ruling last year. So the nation's highest court, and many other state and federal courts, ruled in ways similar to Iowa's Supreme Court. Against that backdrop, it's far tougher to argue Iowa's justices are activist outliers. And plenty of fair-minded Iowans understand firing competent justices over one contentious ruling is no way to run a court system.

But, hey, if you want to vote yes solely because the Supreme Court protected porch drinking, I won't talk you out of it.

I realize court critics also are pointing to a unanimous 2015 ruling striking down the Iowa Board of Medicine's ban on using telemed technology to prescribe abortion drugs. Trouble is, the opinion was joined by two of Gov. Terry Branstad's picks to replace justices ousted in 2010, Thomas Waterman and Edward Mansfield. Mansfield, who is on Donald Trump's long list of possible U.S. Supreme Court picks, is hardly some liberal activist. The ban was simply unconstitutional.

So anti-retention forces in 2016 have far less credibility, motivation and relevance. It's no wonder their bus has become a Mini Cooper.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com