The latest Public Policy Poll shouldn’t come as good news for Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins. They write:
Iowans are evenly divided on retaining Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins. 38% say they would vote to retain him if the election was today while 38% say they would vote to end his time in office. That close division in Iowa politics extends to the generic legislative ballot. 41% say they would vote Republican and 40% say they would vote Democratic if there was an election today.
The campaign to oust him has just been launched, and independents will be the key:
Justice David Wiggins has a fight on his hands to stay on the Supreme Court. Right now, 38% each want to retain him and depose him. Unsurprisingly, Democrats (58-19) and Republicans (17-56) are equally polarized, and independents just slightly prefer Wiggins remain in office (39-36).
In 2010, Iowa threw out three justices: Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit, and there are a lot of people working very hard to add a fourth to that number. In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down Iowa’s Defense of Marriage act and ordered Iowa’s County Recorders to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. The court opinion was bad enough, but the order to issue marriage licenses was seen, rightly, as the court writing law from the bench.
Time to retire Justice Wiggins so he can run for the Iowa Legislature if he likes.