The Iowa Legislature is currently looking at a bill that would change how Iowa Supreme Court Justices are nominated to serve on the state’s highest court.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says currently the judicial nomination commission is made of up lawyers from the Iowa Bar Association and appointees from the governor’s office. The bill would shift representation from the Iowa Bar Association to the legislative branch, but still require there to be lawyers on the commission. Behn says the main goal of the bill is to give more of a voice to Iowans by giving representation to elected officials instead of unelected individuals from the Iowa Bar Association. He adds that it would also increase the judicial applicant pool and they would do a better job of selecting nominees.

Behn explains why they are now looking into this issue. “Well we haven’t looked at it since 1973. And so a re-examination of the current system, very frankly, is long overdue anyway and I think it was really driven to a head by some of these judicial rulings that were perceived to be incredibly biased or incredibly politically motivated.”

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn, who is also a member of the Iowa Bar Association, understands the underlying sediment of what the legislature is dealing with. He also rejects the United States and the Iowa Supreme Court’s notion of having “Judicial Supremacy,” or being the ultimate interpreter of the constitution.

However, Laehn believes the current process that’s in place is a fair system for selecting supreme court justice nominations. He doesn’t agree with the legislature’s proposed changes. “It would remove the expertise that the Bar Association can provide. We don’t want judges who are merely political creatures at the beckon call of elected officials. We want judges who merit the office.”

A version of the bill is being worked on in both the Senate and the House.