Governor-elect Terry Branstad will not comment on news that three  Republicans who’ve been elected to the Iowa House plan to try to impeach the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court Justices. 

“This is a separate branch of government and I’ve got enough on my plate not to get into that one,” Branstad says. “So I don’t intend to comment on it.”

Three members of the state’s Supreme Court were ousted in November’s judicial retention election.  Critics charge the court overstepped its authority when it issued a unanimous 2009 ruling which paved the way for same-sex marriage in Iowa.

Branstad has repeatedly called on legislators to set the wheels in motion for a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage in Iowa. As for impeachment, Branstad says that’s the legislature’s business, not his.

“The governor doesn’t have a role in that,” Branstad says. “And I’ve got many things on my plate so I have not looked into that at all.”

Articles of impeachment first must be approved by the 100-member House, then a trial must be held in the Iowa Senate, followed by a vote of two-thirds of the state senators in order to impeach a justice.