Five Iowa state representatives on
Thursday filed resolutions to impeach the remaining four Iowa Supreme
Court justices who ruled in favor of gay marriage, Des Moines ABC
affiliate WOI-DT reported.
Separate resolutions were filed for
Chief Justice Mark Cady and Justices Daryl Hecht, Brent Appel and
David Wiggins.
The judges violated the Iowa
Constitution's separation of powers clause by acting in a role
reserved for legislators, the resolutions say. The measures are
backed by Republican Representatives Tom Shaw, Glen Massie, Kim
Pearson, Dwayne Alons and Betty DeBoef.
“Marriage is between one man and one
woman and they just up and tried to change the definition of a word
and you just can't do that,” Shaw told Radio Iowa. “Justices
don't have the authority to change the meanings of words.”
“In the constitution, Article III,
Section 1, clearly states, 'One department can't do the job of
another department,' and I believe, and my colleagues believe, that's
what they did in their ruling,” he added.
“The threat by five legislators to
impeach the State Supreme Court Justices is not only a sad attempt to
misuse the impeachment process for political gain, but completely out
of touch with Iowans,” said the group Justice Not Politics in a
statement.
The group noted that two polls found a
majority of Iowa voters oppose the idea.
“We are confident legislators and
Iowans will reject this ridiculous effort by a small, but loud
minority to placate their extreme agenda to inject politics and
discrimination into our court system.”
The action comes after voters on
November 2 ousted three of the seven judges whose unanimous 2009
ruling brought gay marriage to the Midwest.
Impeachment would require the
assistance of the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. Senate
Majority Leader Michael Gronstal has previously blocked
Republican-led efforts to overturn the law.