In the News: State justice says Iowans misunderstand Supreme Court’s role

from The Globe Gazette.

MASON CITY — Choosing legislators who make the laws should not be the same as choosing judges who interpret the laws, Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins told members of the Mason City Noon Lions Club on Wednesday.

“In the Legislature, you elect those folks and if they’re not doing what you want, you elect them out,” said Wiggins, one of seven Supreme Court justices.

Judges, on the other hand, do not decide cases “on the basis of majority rules,” Wiggins said.

“We decide on the basis of the constitutions of the state and the United States and Iowa state law.”

Wiggins, of West Des Moines, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2003. He said people sometimes misunderstand the role of the courts, which is to interpret the laws so they can be enforced uniformly throughout the state.

“We take the words the Legislature used in writing the law and try to figure out what they meant and how it should be enforced,” Wiggins said.

Their decision has nothing to do with whether the judges personally agree with the law or like it, he said.

...Iowa was the second state to adopt a merit selection system for selecting its Supreme Court justices, which Wiggins said is the fairest method of judicial selection. The system has been in place in Iowa since 1962.

It preserves the integrity of the courts and keeps politics out of it, he said.

“It’s important that we keep this a fair and impartial system,” Wiggins said. “It’s important for courts to be independent.”

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