News & Updates

Iowans for Freedom announced plans for a statewide “NO Wiggins” bus tour that will oppose judicial activism and the retention of one of the seven justices who in 2009 recognized a right to same-sex marriage in the state’s constitution. The state bar is launching its own weeklong bus tour—the “Yes Iowa Justice Tour.”

Though the state’s judicial elections are nonpartisan in the sense that party affiliation does not appear on the ballot, the state Democratic Party endorsed a state representative who is challenging the sitting chief justice.

A Philadelphia-based Tea Party group vowed to challenge the retention of two supreme court justices on the ballot in 2013 if the state’s voter ID law is not in place for the November elections.

Prior to a campaign recess, the U.S. Senate confirmed two of the 17 pending nominees for federal district court vacancies. Fourteen of the 17 nominees received unanimous approval from the senate judiciary committee.

Over the last year, the percentage of women serving on the state’s courts has risen from 36.1 percent to 38.2 percent. Nationwide, women hold 27.5 percent of state court judgeships.

Ruth Bettelheim, a marriage and family therapist, wrote in the New York Times that children’s voices are being ignored or suppressed in custody discussions and agreements. She argues that a custody arrangement generally governs the schedule of children without change until they turn 18, despite the fact that the needs of children change as they get older.

Jeanne Teleia, a marriage and family therapist, told the North Hawaii News that conflict in divorce is damaging to children, but that help is available to mitigate the worst and most prevalent side effects. She encourages parents to commit to a child-centered divorce where parents put their anger aside, resulting in less stress and energy spent, fewer expenses, and less damage inflicted upon the children.

In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked a Montana state law barring political party endorsements of judicial candidates.

All 18 judges up for retention in Pima County Superior Court received generally high scores by the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance, with most scoring higher than 85 percent in all categories. Judges in Pima and Maricopa counties (and state appellate judges) must stand for periodic retention by voters.

A circuit court judge rejected a challenge to the ballot summary for a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the governor to name an additional member of the commission that nominates potential appellate judges and increase the required number of nominees from three to four.

The Florida Supreme Court has recently amended its Rules of Civil Procedure to address the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). These amendments became effective September 1, 2012.

Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Advisory Committee member, Justice Christine Durham, has been selected by the American Judicature Society to receive the Eighth Annual Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence.

LawMeets, a website that provides law students with free transactional simulations, is now offering free transactional law courses which can be used by individual students or incorporated into law school classes. These online courses will combine lectures and simulations to teach law students the nuts-and-bolts of business transactions.

The cast of "West Wing" has reunited to film two short web videos, urging voters to participate in nonpartisan state supreme court elections. One video specifically plugs Michigan Supreme Court candidate Bridget Mary McCormack while the other is a geared toward a more national audience.

In "Check One and the Accountability Is Done: The Harmful Impact of Straight-Ticket Voting on Judicial Elections," the authors argue that straight-ticket voting plays a pernicious role with respect to voter choice and “renders meaningful judicial accountability highly unlikely.” The authors question the legitimacy of a vote “based upon minimal information and reasoning” and argue that "marketing judges as mere accessories to the whole of a political party is simply bad for justice."

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announces the release of Another Voice: Financial Experts on Reducing Client Costs in Civil Litigation, a new report prepared in collaboration with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that evaluates the cost and delays of litigation from a new perspective: that of financial expert witnesses.

A group known as The Do Good Dads Against Unjust Judges is challenging the retention of three local judges. The group takes issue with the judges’ rulings in cases involving child custody, adoptions, and child abuse, among others. The group is also pursuing legislative changes and better training for attorneys who handle custody cases.

Instead of launching his own campaign to fight back against the effort to remove him, Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins affirmed his belief that politicizing the courts leads to outcome-motivated judges who hold themselves accountable to donors and critics instead of the law. Similarly, while Florida State Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince has launched a campaign to stay on the bench, doing so makes her “uncomfortable.”

The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission has published its evaluation reports and recommendations online. The Commission was created by statute in 2008 and undertook midterm evaluations in 2010 that were only for self-improvement purposes.

The U.S. Senate voted to approve, by an 89-1 vote, Stephanie Rose as a U.S. district court judge. To date, President Obama has appointed 72 women to the federal bench, which is the most ever appointed by a president in a single term. Rose is the first woman to serve on the Southern District of Iowa.