Iowa lawmakers go nuclear on state supremes

Can’t do it, friend, on account of that the bulk of the operational elements of the Iowa National Guard are in Afghanistan.

The faction of the Republican legislators who are whooping it up for an impeachment consists of three first termers. Not a big segment of the membership. The thing that is disturbing is that the Republican leadership and the once and future Governor are doing just about nothing to quash these three irrationals. The nutcases position seems to be that the state supreme court has no power to nullify state legislation as a violation of the state constitution or by extension of the federal constitution.

We will see if the party leadership will let the resolution of impeachment get to the floor. My bet is that they will not but that the issue will be kept simmering on the back burner just to keep the issue alive for the next election.

In terms of practical considerations, the retention election reduced the IA Sup Ct to four justices, down from seven, and it will take a while for the three new guys to get on board. The business of the court will necessarily suffer with even longer delays in deciding cases and more cases deferred until there is a full court.

We have had an apolitical court since 1962. I don’t expect that to change but it is going to get ugly before the matter is resolved.