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You are here: Home / News / Bill would require supermajority vote of Supreme Court to overturn Iowa law

Bill would require supermajority vote of Supreme Court to overturn Iowa law

February 19, 2018 By O. Kay Henderson

Julian Garett

A bill that’s ready for debate in the Iowa Senate would require five of the seven justices on the Iowa Supreme Court to agree when ruling that a state law is unconstitutional.

Senator Julian Garrett, a Republican from Indianola who is an attorney, said during committee debate last week that a “super majority” is preferable to a nearly split four-to-three opinion that would overturn a state law.

“There have been a whole series of cases over many years when major changes in our society have been made not through the legislative process — not through the people’s representatives, but just based on the opinion of a majority of judges on a court,” Garrett said.

Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines who is also an attorney, argued in committee that a change like this should be done through a vote of the people on a constitutional amendment rather than a vote among legislators on a bill.

“It is certainly interesting that in terms of determining how many justices are required to interpret the constitution, we’re doing this with a statutory action, not a constitutional amendment, not anything more serious than that,” Boulton said.

Only two states — Nebraska and North Dakota — require “supermajorities” on their courts to overturn state laws. Other critics Garrett’s bill wouldn’t have impacted the Iowa Supreme Court’s 2009 Iowa Supreme Court opinion which legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. That was a unanimous opinion.

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Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt, Top Story Tagged With: Democratic Party, Legislature, Republican Party, Same-Sex Marriage

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