Iowa voters oust chief justice and three other supreme court judges who voted to overturn ban on same-sex marriage

The people of Iowa scored a major victory on Tuesday and have sent a clear and powerful message across America. The April 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision to declare the state’s law banning same sex marriage unconstitutional was a controversial win for far-left judicial activism at the expense of the people. Three members of the court learned on election day that judicial activism has consequences.

The DesMoines Register reports that Chief Justice Marsha Ternus along with Justices David Baker and Michael Streit were handed their pink slips by the voters after Tuesday’s mid-term election. Since Iowa adopted the merit selection and retention system in 1962 no state Supreme Court justice had failed to earn the simple majority required for retention.

The campaign to remove the judges was spearheaded by Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats and supported by U.S. Congressman Steve King who crisscrossed the state to rally the electorate. A jubilant Vander Plaas told supporters “The people of Iowa stood up in record numbers and sent a message…that it is ‘We the people,’ not ‘We the courts.’”

Exit polls confirmed that the unpopular gay marriage decision was the overwhelming issue regarding the retention vote.