A federal judge ruled Thursday that Iowa’s law requiring a judicial nominating panel to be gender-balanced is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Rose wrote that it violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, and ordered the state court administrator to stop enforcing the gender balance rule for elections to the State Judicial Nominating Commission.
The ruling comes as Gov. Kim Reynolds has asked state lawmakers to repeal Iowa laws that require government boards and commissions to have an equal, or nearly equal, number of men and women.
Pacific Legal Foundation sued the state on behalf of three Iowans who wanted to run for openings on the State Judicial Nominating Commission, a panel that interviews applicants for Iowa Supreme Court and Court of Appeals vacancies and recommends finalists to the governor.
Nine of the 17 positions on the commission are appointed by the governor, while the other eight are elected by members of the Iowa State Bar Association. The law requires the elected commissioners to be “of different genders,” which has been interpreted to require one woman and one man to be elected in each of Iowa’s four congressional districts.
Rachel Raak Law, Micah Broeckmeier and former state legislator Charles Hurley sued State Court Administrator Robert Gast, arguing that they were excluded from participating only because of their gender. Hurley was the only plaintiff remaining after the other two were dismissed.
Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Laura D’Agostino said her clients “are vindicated for their courage in standing up to this discriminatory statute.”
“All Iowans should celebrate that result,” she said. “We are hopeful that the Iowa legislature takes this cue from the court and repeals the state’s remaining gender balance laws. We are also hopeful that other states across the country take notice.”
Top Republican lawmakers have been supportive of Reynolds’ proposed repeal of Iowa’s gender balance laws. Democratic leaders have criticized her proposal.
The gender balance requirement for the State Judicial Nominating Commission was one of several such bills passed by the Iowa Legislature in the late 1980s. No women were elected to the commission until the law was passed, but women were appointed by governors.
Judge Rose wrote the state presented strong evidence that women lacked opportunities to get elected to the commission in the 1980s, and the gender balance requirement was justified at the time.
But she wrote there is a lack of evidence to support a current need for the requirement.
“This is not to say that gender discrimination does not exist—it plainly does across the spectrum of jobs in this country—but the evidence presented to the Court does not establish this fact in this commission, in this state, at this time,” Rose wrote.
