Article I, Section 6 of the Iowa Constitution says:  “All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation; the general assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.” 

On that basis, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously a law banning gay marriage is unconstitutional. And since 2010, the far right has poured money into a witch hunt against the justices who were doing their  job. This time around, Justice David Wiggins is the focus of these misguided efforts.

In Iowa, we vote whether or not to retain district and Supreme Court justices, and it is absolutely clear we should vote to retain Wiggins. This is not an issue of liberalism vs. conservatism. It is not about personal beliefs on gay marriage. It is about judicial practice. Recently, the Iowa Bar Association recommended retaining Wiggins. 

Even the former Republican Speaker of the House for Iowa, Christopher Rants, said he is voting “yes” on Wiggins because everyone across the spectrum knew the law would not stand up to “constitutional scrutiny” and the court ruled as expected. The retention vote is meant as a safeguard against judicial malpractice; should we really oust a Supreme Court justice for doing his job?

In the United States and in Iowa, our judicial system is designed to insulate justices against the fickle nature of elections so that they can do their job without worrying about how popular their decision may be. Wiggins believes in that system, and thus is not campaigning, which leaves him vulnerable. It is our duty as citizens to make sure these attacks are not successful, for the sake of our judicial process.

Students can vote everyday this week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Locations are the Memorial Union and Carver on Tuesday and Wednesday and Parks and Kildee on Thursday and Friday. As we do our civic duty, Democrats, Republicans and everyone in between should remember to turn the ballot over and vote “yes” on Wiggins.