Gronstalling in the Iowa House

When the current legislative session began four months ago many of us around the state were full of hope and optimism. With the newly elected Republican majority in the Iowa House of Representatives we believed that we would be able to advance an agenda that furthered the cause of freedom and in the process actually defend the rights granted to us by the US and Iowa Constitutions. However as we draw near the end of the session, the hope and optimism we felt is quickly fading to despair and anger as we seem to have been betrayed by those in which we placed our trust.

Case in point is the Articles of Impeachment against the four activist justices that remain on the Iowa Supreme Court. In December three freshman Representatives announced their intentions to draft the aforementioned articles in an effort to hold the Supreme Court accountable. Unfortunately, because such a step was unprecedented, it has taken longer than anticipated to draw up the articles. Be that as it may; Representative Shaw, in conjunction with four other State Representatives, filed the resolutions necessary to begin the impeachment proceedings yesterday afternoon.

Upon hearing that the resolutions had been filed a little bit of the faded hope had been restored. We felt that we were finally going to have a victory in the defense of our states constitution. However, it appears that two Republican members of the House are willing to stand in the way of resolutions, thus disregarding the oath that they took to defend the US and Iowa Constitutions.

In a statement he made to the Des Moines Register this morning, Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen asserted that he “agrees with much of the reasoning behind the impeachment resolutions, I disagree with the remedy.” It is easy to understand the meaning of his words here. The basic principle behind his comments is that yes he agrees with the need to hold the Iowa Supreme Court accountable, he just doesn’t have the moral courage to stand up and do the right thing.

And in an effort to keep the resolutions from being debated Speaker Paulsen assigned the resolutions to the House Judiciary Committee. A committee that is not scheduled to meet again this session. Another obstacle standing in the road of the resolutions is that the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rich Anderson from Clarinda, has steadfastly stated that he would not allow the impeachment to leave his committee.

Unfortunately at this time it appears that the impeachment resolutions will not be brought to the House floor for debate. In an act of political cowardice, Speaker Paulsen deliberately sent the resolutions to a committee that he knew would not meet again this session. In an act of political cowardice Speaker Paulsen sent the resolutions to committee chaired by a representative that he knew would not stand in the way of the resolutions.

At this point the only hope that we have of getting these resolutions brought to the floor for debate is if we exert some pressure on the Iowa House. This means that we need to move heaven and earth to ensure that we call not only our representatives, but also Speaker Paulsen and Representative Anderson. It is my understanding that they are the only individuals in the Iowa House that can bring forth the resolutions at this time. Below you will find the contact information for both Paulsen and Anderson.  Please take the time to contact them and tell them that the defense of Iowa’s Constitution and the separation of powers is a worthwhile endeavor for the Iowa House.

Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen

Email Address – kraig.paulsen@legis.state.ia.us

Phone Number – 319.294.2602

Richard Anderson

Email Address – Richard.anderson@legis.state.ia.us

Judicial Activism: Our Options

As many of you already know, judicial activism has become a problem in Iowa’s judiciary. The Iowa Supreme Court has repeatedly engaged in activity that has stepped beyond the limits set in place in the Iowa Constitution. After deciding that they could endure no more the citizen’s of Iowa last November sent a clear and unmistakable message to the Iowa Supreme Court. In a historic vote, a majority of Iowa’s voters elected to decline retention of three of Iowa’s Supreme Court Justices. The message was clear, the Justices had overstepped their constitutional limitations and the public had had enough. Many of us had hoped that in the wake of November 2^nd the remaining Justices would see the error of their ways. However that was not to be. Just days after the Justices failed retention the Iowa Supreme Court once again engaged in judicial activism. It became abundantly clear that something more was going to need to be done to put the genie back in the bottle. This unfortunate set of circumstances has left the citizen’s of Iowa with very few options with which to hold the Iowa Supreme Court accountable.

The first option available to the citizen’s of Iowa would be to turn a blind eye to the blatant violations of the Constitution emanating from the Supreme Court. This is the option that many of the Courts supporters would have us choose. They fail to recognize that a Supreme Court that uses the Constitution as a doormat is a danger to all Iowan’s. If that same Supreme Court ignores the Constitution there is no part of our state that is safe. Unfortunately we have organizations such as “Justice Not Politics” that is attempting to stir up support for the rogue court. They mistakenly claim that removing the remaining Justices would create an unfair and biased judiciary. If the Iowa House were to capitulate to the wishes of this group of legal elites they would run the risk of nullifying the power of their own branch of government, not to mention that of the executive branch. Obviously this option is entirely unacceptable. By exercising this option our state would essentially become ruled by judicial fiat which may just be the motivation of former Lt. Governor Sally Pederson and her colleagues. Not a pretty sight.

The second option available to the citizen’s of Iowa is one that has been and is being advocated by former Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats. The basis of this option is a plea to the sense of decency and honor among the Justices to resign. On the surface this is an excellent idea, however if one were to think about it for a while you would come to the conclusion that this effort is doomed. If the Supreme Court Justices actually saw what they did as wrong they would not have done it in the first place. Thus by asking them to resign for it would be akin asking them to admit fault. I for one do not foresee the Justices doing that. Instead by seeking their resignation rather than seizing the initiative would doom the citizen’s of Iowa to having to accept option number one.

The third  option is to wait until the remaining Justices are up for their retention votes. While we were able to evict three Justices in this manner, it does not mean that this is the best option for removing the remaining Justices in this fashion. It would take years of concerted effort to work continue the work that began in 2010 to reform the highest court in the land. In the meantime the three new Justices would be exposed to the judicial activism that is so apparent in the current court. During this time the new Justices may begin to succumb to the desire to legislate from the bench. Thus we can only come to the conclusion that waiting for the remaining retention votes would not solve the problem.

This leaves us with option number four. Some have called this option the “nuclear” option. The option of last resort. We can impeach the remaining four Supreme Court Justices for their malfeasance and subsequently remove them from the bench. This option is the one that the most opposition. Some seem to want nothing more than to remain with the status quo, such as the misnamed organization “Justice Not Politics”. And while this option has the most opposition it is also the most likely to work. It is the option that is most likely to curb judicial activism.

Of all the options available to us, the citizen’s of Iowa, option number four is the only one that is feasible. It would not allow the current rogue court to continue to abuse their positions to advance their own beliefs. Additionally it would not allow the incoming Justices thinking to become polluted and corrupted by the judicial activist mentality. Furthermore it would send a powerful message to future Supreme Court Justices. If you engage in unconstitutional activity, we the people of Iowa will act accordingly.