Saturday, November 6, 2010

Dramatic defeat of Iowa judges raises hopes for marriage amendment

 Des Moines, Iowa, Nov 5, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).
When U.S. voters are asked whether or not their state should retain its judges every two years, many aren't quite sure how to make their decisions. But a majority of Iowa voters knew exactly what they were doing, when they voted against retaining three of the state's Supreme Court justices on Nov. 2.

In April 2009, Justices David Baker, Michael Streit, and Chief Justice Marsha Ternus agreed with four other state justices in ruling that the Iowa state constitution's equal protection clause implied a right of same-sex couples to marry.

Their ruling overturned a 1998 state law specifying that “only a marriage between a male and a female is valid.” Suddenly, homosexual “marriage” was legal in Iowa.

This year, three of the deciding justices were up for retention or rejection by voters. As election day approached, organizations opposing the redefinition of marriage invested significant funding and energy to make Iowa voters aware that this year's judgment on judges was far from routine.

This time, it was the voters' turn to make a dramatic change. On Tuesday, Baker, Streit and Ternus became the first judges ousted by Iowa voters since 1962.

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