Justice Wiggins’ Biggest Obstacle to Winning Retention Vote, Himself

Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins spoke to the Des Moines Rotary Club last week, presumably in an effort to seek support for his forthcoming retention vote. One can understand why Wiggins might come to my Club, affectionately referred to as a group of old men and their fathers. He is the fourth Justice to stand for retention since the Court ruled on marriage. The other three were tossed from the bench. He was looking for votes. I doubt he won many last Thursday.

Justice David S. Wiggins

Justice Wiggins is a lousy public speaker. To make matters worse, he has adopted a condescending tone.

He opened by stating he would not be hanging around afterwards to talk – he wanted to spend time with his grandson. He repeated this three times during his 20 minutes at the microphone. I am all for a guy who places family first, but when seeking votes it is prudent for a candidate to soft pedal how disinterested he is in interacting with the those who cast them. Rotary starts at noon and concludes by 1:00 p.m. 99% of the time. It is hardly a huge time commitment. If appearing was such a burden on his schedule, Wiggins should have turned down the invitation.

Justice Wiggins gave a sleepy lecture about the three branches of government – he laid out the whole separation of powers thing. I am guessing everybody in the room has a solid grasp on the American and Iowa systems of government. He did not address the elephant in the room (pun explicitly intended), the ruling that allowed same sex partners to marry. Like a grandfather talking to a child, he explained how a judge must interpret whether laws conform to the Iowa and U.S. Constitutions based on the facts of the case he is hearing. A judge’s political views have to be put aside while discharging his duties. We understood that before we got there.

Justice Wiggins missed an opportunity to connect with a few hundred Iowans last Thursday. Instead of presenting his credentials, sharing his passion for the important position he feels fortunate to fill, or explaining his approach to being a Justice; he talked down to his well-educated audience. Come on, counselor, present your case.

To a point, I understand why Justice Wiggins feels he needs to teach on this subject. While those who disagree with the marriage ruling are well within their rights to work to amend the Constitution, their efforts to punish those who made the ruling are misguided. The folks who feel the solution is punishing Wiggins and others clearly don’t understand the first thing about what makes our American system great.

I plan to vote for David Wiggins even though he is a poor orator and does not understand how to win votes. The question for the electorate is whether David Wiggins has honestly and fairly discharged his duties as a Justice. He has. Justice Wiggins and the others on the Supreme Court did their job. They ruled on marriage without influence and in good conscience. By all accounts Wiggins is an impartial and thoughtful jurist. He should remain on the Court.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com 
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register online essay.