Opinion: Impeachment over a judicial ruling is never appropriate

As U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts has observed, judges are not politicians. They do not issue rulings in return for votes.

To have judges issue rulings as demanded by special interest groups (or even voters) undermines a judge’s oath of office, respect for the law, and the rights and privileges which ensure equal protection for all.

Yet recently, Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, and three-time loser for political office, did just that when he called for impeachment of three Iowa Supreme Court justices over a ruling and reasoning he disagreed with.

Noteworthy, all of the justices of the Iowa Supreme Court, including the ones Mr. Vander Plaats calls to be impeached, were selected and appointed to the bench by Republican governors Terry Branstad and Kim Reynolds, following their careful consideration, being vetted and nominated by a state judicial nomination commission (comprised of laypersons appointed by the governors and lawyers elected by their peers). The Iowa Judicial Branch is widely recognized as one of the best in the nation.

In the ruling at hand, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Inc., Emma Goldman Clinic, and Jill Meadows v. Kim Reynolds ex rel. State of Iowa and Iowa Board of Medicine, three justices decided one way and three other justices another way.

Reasonable judges can disagree.

Under Iowa law, impeachment is a process by which the Legislature can remove judges for “a misdemeanor or malfeasance in office.”

Because the impeachment power lies in the hands of elected officials, it can be threatened for partisan reasons, but the actual impeachment and removal of judges is in fact rare and limited by Iowa law to serious ethical or criminal misconduct such as perjury, fraud, or conflicts of interest. For more than 200 years, no state or federal judge has been impeached in this country as punishment for judicial opinion.

A disagreement with a ruling or its reasoning does not amount to a misdemeanor or malfeasance in office.Undeterred, Mr. Vander Plaats asserts a disagreement in reasoning is cause for impeachment of the three justices, because he doesn’t agree with them. He is wrong. Former Gov. Terry Branstad publicly voiced opposition to impeachment efforts of Iowa Supreme Court justices following the Varnum decision on same-sex marriage, even though Branstad disagreed with the decision.

In deciding the way they did, the justices were exercising their oath of office “to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa … without fear, favor, affection, or hope of reward … to the best of my knowledge and ability, administer justice according to the law, equally to the rich and the poor.” In short, they did their job.

Maintaining an independent judiciary in our system of government requires judges to remain insulated from political pressure when deciding cases so that they decide cases based on their understanding of what the law is and without fear they could be removed from office if special interest groups disagree with their rulings. At its heart, the principle of judicial independence stands for fair and impartial courts accountable to the Constitution and laws, not to politicians, ideologies or special interests.

As Alexander Hamilton said in the Federalist Papers, citizens “of every description” should value judicial independence “because no man can be sure that he may not be tomorrow the victim of a spirit of injustice.” Simply put, an independent judiciary in a constitutional democracy is the bedrock of the rule of law and equal justice. The attacks by Mr. Vander Plaats do a grave injustice to the important principle of an independent judiciary and mislead the public as to the role of judges in our democracy. Calling for impeachment of three justices of the Iowa Supreme Court over a disagreement with a ruling is unsupported, unsubstantiated, and misguided.

Guy R. Cook is past president of the Iowa State Bar Association, former member of the State Judicial Nominating Commission, and chair of the Iowa State Bar Association Independence of the Judiciary Committee. Cynthia C. Moser is past president of the Iowa State Bar Association, former member of the State Judicial Nominating Commission, and member of the Iowa State Bar Association Independence of the Judiciary Committee.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Opinion: Impeachment over a judicial ruling is never correct