Iowa Governor –Elect Branstad Does Not Believe Pro-Gay Marriage Justices Merit Impeachment Proceedings

Governor-elect Terry Branstad (R-Iowa) has for the first time taken a firm public position on the push by some state GOP legislators to impeach Iowa Supreme Court Justices who participated in a ruling that found the state’s ban on gay marriage violated the constitution, the Sioux City Journal reporting that Monday, in an interview, Branstad said he does not believe that the court’s 2009 decision qualifies as a definition of malfeasance outlined in the constitution that would warrant the Iowa House to consider impeachment proceedings against the four remain justices, Branstad saying “I don’t think that impeachment is the appropriate remedy.” He added that although he disagrees with the court’s ruling, he also disagrees with a coalition of House Republicans who are prepared to draft articles of impeachment against Justices Brent Appel, Mark Cady, Daryl Hecht, and David Wiggens. Three other members of the court – Chief Justice Marsha Temus, as well as Justices David Baker and Michael Streit, ended their terms on the bench after they lost their retention votes November 2nd, in a campaign largely led by Bob Vander Platts. Governor-elect Branstad said he believes that the state Supreme Court “over-reached” in striking down the Defense of Marriage Act he signed into law in 1998 that defined marriage in Iowa as that existing only between one man and one woman, but added “I think if you look and read the Constitution, which I have, I think it's pretty obvious. The Constitution says what the grounds for impeachment are. My reading is it's not there,” Branstad said. “There's a difference between malfeasance and over-reaching, I think. I really think that if people look at the Constitution, I think the remedy is that when they come up for retention that people have a chance to vote them out. I think that's the appropriate remedy. I don't think that impeachment is the appropriate remedy.”