Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Retention Redux: Iowa 2012, Todd E. Pettys
Retention Redux: Iowa 2012, Todd E. Pettys
Todd E. Pettys
In 2010, Iowa voters ousted three members of the Iowa Supreme Court for their participation in that court's ruling that Iowa's statutory ban on same-sex marriage violated the Iowa Constitution. In 2012, however, Iowa voters opted to retain a fourth member of that same court. This article examines the differences between the two elections.
Judicial Retention Elections, The Rule Of Law, And The Rhetorical Weaknesses Of Consequentialism, Todd E. Pettys
Judicial Retention Elections, The Rule Of Law, And The Rhetorical Weaknesses Of Consequentialism, Todd E. Pettys
Todd E. Pettys
From Alaska to Florida, the 2010 election season brought the nation an unprecedented number of organized campaigns aimed at denying retention to judges who had ruled in ways that some voters found objectionable. Judges in those and other retention-election states can no longer rest comfortably on the assumption that voters will routinely exempt them from meaningful scrutiny. Anxious judges, state bar officials, and others have responded with a set of deontological and consequentialist arguments aimed at persuading voters not to use retention elections as an opportunity to oust judges who have issued controversial rulings. The deontological arguments posit that ousting …