Chief justice a dedicated ‘specialist’

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Elitism: The belief that certain people or members of certain classes or select groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status or financial resources.

Is Mark Cady an elitist, arrogant and aloof, out of touch with Iowans, as some critics of Iowa's chief justice and others on the state Supreme Court would have you believe? We don't think so.

Those who do were among voters who tossed out three justices on the ballot in November's retention vote after the Supreme Court's controversial 2009 ruling that the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional because it denied civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Certainly, Cady and the court's other justices belong to a select group. All were selected through a merit system ranked as one of the nation's fairest and most objective.

Like his colleagues, Cady has a long run of experience with Iowa's laws and legal system after earning his degree at Drake University: judicial law clerk, assistant Webster County attorney, private attorney in Fort Dodge, district associate judge, district court judge, Iowa Court of Appeals, chief judge of the appeals court and Iowa Supreme Court (1998).

Then-Gov. Terry Branstad, who came back to win re-election in November, appointed Cady to his court positions

from the district level on up after reviewing the nominating

commissions' recommendations.

Cady is a specialist. His job requires extensive knowledge, research skills and objectivity in applying the constitution's principles. And as such, Cady, who talked with us this week, comes across as just that - a specialist in his field, yet one who speaks in direct, clear language. Not flowery. Not arrogant. But, clearly, committed to honoring the Iowa Constitution and the rule of law.

“This is not about me, this is about the courts and our system of justice,” he said of critics' attacks and some legislators' threats to impeach Cady and the other three justices who supported the marriage ruling.

Cady's response so far has been to become more visible, more vocal, to defend and explain the role of the judicial branch - designed by our founders to be independent of the government's executive and legislative branches and necessarily free to make decisions based on our supreme law, the constitution, not the political whims of the day.

Cady reminds us that the document is a framework for other laws and protects the legal rights of every citizen, so that no one is denied a right that others are granted.

Whether you agree with the marriage ruling or not, Chief Justice Cady is no elitist.

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