Sunday, November 07, 2010

Judge Hanson Responds to Justice Retention Vote

Here Comes the Judge: I don't know that this qualifies as irony. But it is a bit weird. Iowans voted out the 3 supreme court justices who were up for retention this past Tuesday. They were all part of that unanimous, 7-member decision last year that allowed same-sex marriages. The votes were all relatively close for the three on election night, but not close enough for them as they will all be kicked off the bench by year's end. The court case actually began with a district court judge's ruling. That judge was Robert Hanson. His 63-page ruling back in 2007 first legalized same-sex marriages. The case then ended up before the supreme court. Here's the weird twist in this case...voters overwhelmingly retained Hanson on Tuesday. I talked with the judge about what he thought about everything that's happened. He told me this:

"I'm extremely grateful for the support from Polk County voters. Unfortunately, I'm also totally disheartened with what's happened to the three supreme court justices. It's a shocking, SHOCKING lack of appreciation of our judicial system."





Hayden's New Hat:
It's getting chilly out there in the mornings. So we had to get Hayden his first hat. Do you think he likes it?


3 comments:

desmoinesdem said...

It's not that shocking, because Hanson was only on the ballot in Polk county, where all the Supreme Court justices also got more than 50 percent yes votes.

It's ironic that Hanson's share of yes votes in Polk County was significantly higher than Ternus, Streit and Baker, but that's because the "no" campaign didn't do much to educate people about Hanson's involvement in 2007.

Anonymous said...

When you say the residents of Polk County weren't "educated" by the No campaign, I would say they weren't "scared" and misinformed" by the no campaign. Please explain how creating stable loving relationships affects your marriage.

Anonymous said...

The perpetual red herring argument about one “marriage” affecting another marriage is getting really old. Listen to yourself. Just because you are completely self-centered doesn’t mean everyone else has to be too. We understand that your entire world revolves around your access to state approval for any strange sexual behavior you might choose.

If others decide to think long-term and cast votes, or push for legislation, based on a larger view of the impact public policy makes on a society, that doesn’t make them “scared” or “misinformed.” It makes them good citizens.