Iowa Bar Association recommends retaining all judges in this election

According to a report by the Iowa Bar Association, all 70 Iowa judges on the ballot this November should be retained.

The report’s findings are detailed at IowaBar.org.  Here’s is a summary they released:

The 70 judges and four supreme court justices standing for retention in this year’s general election on November 6 are well qualified to remain as judges.

All 74 received high marks on the 12 questions (10 for members of the supreme court and court of appeals) for their professionalism and demeanor as determined by the attorneys who voted in the bi-annual Judicial Performance Review, formerly known as the “plebiscite,” conducted by The Iowa State Bar Association. Voting in the performance review occurred the first two weeks
of June.

This year’s survey garnered 1,450 responses, which is comparable to the numbers in most years.

Since Iowa adopted its merit system for selecting judges in 1962, the ISBA has conducted the performance review as a way of giving voters information on which to base their decisions about keeping a judge in office. Under Iowa’s judicial merit selection system, judges are appointed by the governor after going through an extensive interview and evaluation process by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Voters then decide every few years during the November general elections whether the judges should remain in office.

In order to be eligible to rate a judge or justice, attorneys must have appeared before him or her frequently enough that the judge or justice can evaluate the attorney. Attorneys rate the judges on eight (six for appellate court judges) questions related to their professional competence, i.e.
knowledge and application of the law, perception of factual issues, attentiveness to arguments and testimony, management and control of the courtroom and promptness of rulings and decisions. The ratings range from 1-5 with 5 being “excellent” and 1 being “very poor.”

They also rate them on four questions related to their demeanor, i.e. avoids undue personal observations or criticisms of litigants, judges and lawyers from the bench or in written orders; decides cases on the basis of applicable law and fact, not affected by outside influence; is
courteous and patient with litigants, lawyers and court personnel; and treats people equally regardless of race, gender, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status or disability. The ratings on these questions also range from 1 to 5, with 5 being “strongly agree” and 1 being “strongly disagree.”

Thirteen of Iowa’s 14 judicial election districts have at least one judge standing for retention in the 2012 general election. Four justices on the supreme court and three judges on the court of appeals are also up for retention this year.