Is this going to be the Proposition 8 fiasco all over again, where people wake up to find that the other side has successfully mobilized at the ballot box to both override the courts AND public sentiment?
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The last time Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus was on the ballot, nearly half of voters didn't bother to weigh in on whether she should keep her job. What a difference eight years and a ruling allowing gay marriage can make.
In Tuesday's election, retention votes for Ternus and justices Michael Streit and David Baker have been drawing nearly as much attention as the races for governor and U.S. Senate. Groups on both sides have aired TV ads, organized campaign bus tours and spotlighted support from politicians ranging from a former Republican governor who supports the judges to nationally known Republicans who back their ouster.
"The whole issue of same-sex marriage has become a very threatening issue to a significant portion of the population," said Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford. "Kicking out those three justices would be a warning shot across the judiciary's bow."
http://www.latimes.com/...
The lesson, it seems, from this attack on the judges and from Prop 8 is that a legal precedent, in itself, does not nail down a change. There's still efforts at the ballot box that might have to be met. While court rulings in Massachusetts weren't challenged, CA's ballot intiative process and Iowa's retention elections provide a means to "overrule" the courts.
And these retention votes are way down ballot, where most people don't vote, leaving us vulnerable to the voters who have been scared witless by Beck and their pastors.
In Illinois, there is a supreme court justice who is being branded as "anti crime" by a pro business group that couldn't care less about crime, just to punish the justice for his pro-consumer votes.
Turn out, vote every office.
UPDATE: All three justices were removed.
see this diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Tonight, all three of the Iowa Supreme Court justices up for reelection were ousted. And now that the homophobes have won, they've promised to bring it to your doorstep. That's not a threat: it's a promise, and their victory tonight guarantees that they'll be shoring up their position in other states.