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33 A.L.I. Rep. 1 (2010-2011)

handle is hein.ali/alireporter0033 and id is 1 raw text is: DEDICATED TO CLARIFYING AND IMPROVING THE LAW fr The President's Letter Recent Elections Demonstrate Need for ALT Project on Election Law The elections of fall are over, except for recounts and for some still-bruised feel- ings in certain quarters. The process and the results offer many issues for lawyers, scholars, and judges to think and talk about. Of direct interest to the ALI will be those elections that had disputes, the resolution of which will give Ned Foley, the Reporter for our new project on election law, and his Advisers much to consider in their work to improve the law in this area. (See the article on this page.) Issues of campaign financing, including the implications from the much discussed Citizens United decision (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 130 S. Ct. 876 (2010)), the redistricting to come, and unresolved questions about voter registra- tion and voter identification have important and controversial aspects that may take our attention as time goes forward. However, to me no single event is more notewor- thy than the voters' rejection of the three Iowa Supreme Court Justices who found themselves removed from the bench, appar- ently because of their participation in the unanimous decision holding that the state statute denying recognition to gay marriage was unconstitutional (Varnum v. Brien, 763 N.W2d 862 (Iowa 2009)). Think about what would have happened to our country if citizens in some of our states had the ability to remove the judges who issued opinions that followed the holdings of Brown v. Board of Education. Those judges faced death threats and unpleasant- ness in their communities, but never threats to their power to decide cases or to their independence. How is the delivery of justice impacted when a judge risks voter backlash in deciding how to rule on a request to stay a death sentence, or when a court's decision in favor of a foreign company in a commercial contract dispute could mean that some local jobs will be lost? These have been serious questions throughout unsettled times in American history. But perhaps the speed and pervasiveness of our modern continued on page 2 e. Noinatein Ri age 3 Rest aee Nears Comi ThSird ft T pag 0 Pricfpls Agreate Litiaio Main gan Impn ere and Abroad page an

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