Csonka'd Again

The Liter is proud to award the Ragister their 8th Csonka award for their latest Roses & Thistles column.

A thistle to those who dismissed concerns about the implications of the campaign to unseat three justices of the Iowa Supreme Court. Critics of the same-sex marriage ruling scoffed at the idea that the campaign would change the nature of Iowa's judicial selection process. That's already happened. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being thrown into the effort, and both sides are waging an all-out campaign on an unprecedented scale. Iowa's judiciary has been thrown back into the political maelstrom, and that is likely to be a permanent - and regrettable - change.

Au contraire and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The judicial selection process is spelled out in the Iowa Constitution, which would need to be amended to be changed and the Iowa Code.

Judges in Iowa are allowed to form campaign committees and raise money, so those seeking the removal of judges and those that seek to retain them are doing nothing illegal.

Besides, the hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent are good for the Iowa economy.