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An Iowa senator is organizing a boycott of businesses that advertise during WHO-AM talk radio’s Jan Mickelson program.

His first target: Toyota of Des Moines even though he drives a vehicle purchased from the dealership.

from The Iowa Independent

Starting from the days of Brown v. Board of Education, through Roe v. Wade and up to a federal judge overruling Proposition 8 in California last month, many conservatives have viewed the courts with contempt. The term “judicial activism” is often thrown around, usually meant to convey some variation on the idea that a judge implemented progressive policy against the will of citizens (though in a post-Citizens United world some liberals have taken to using the rhetoric of overreaching court decisions).

from The Iowa Independent

The Omaha World-Herald has been bashed of late through the social networking site Facebook for its lack of a clear policy regarding publication of wedding and engagement announcements for same-sex couples.

from The Des Moines Register

...The unanimous Varnum decision overturned a state law that defined marriage as the union of a man and woman. The court's seven justices ruled that the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act violated the equal protection rights of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Polk County.

[Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark] Cady urged the graduates not to shy from unpopular work as lawyers, because "you may very well be performing your most important work. Remember, what is popular at a given time is not always right."

from The Iowa Independent

The effort to oust the three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for retention vote this fall, along with calls by some to replace Iowa’s merit based system for judicial appointment with partisan elections, “reflect a fundamental misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the role, responsibilities and authority of judges in the interpretation and application of the Iowa Constitution,” three former state Supreme Court justices wrote Sunday in The Des Moines Register.

from The Washington Post

... Last year, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the state's law barring the recognition of same-sex marriage violated the Iowa Constitution. It was a major victory for gay rights groups, in part because Iowa is the only Midwestern state to allow same-sex couples to legally wed, joining four other states and the District of Columbia.

Supporters note that ousting the judges would not change the ruling. Nevertheless, they see it as a symbolic threat and have begun reaching out to voters.