Now that it is close to the election to determine retention of Justice David Wiggins as Iowa Supreme Court justice, it is time to examine the claims of the campaigns being waged on both sides.

Nearly all the articles I have read in favor of or against the justice seem to have avoided the real point: the contents of the state Constitution and the tenure of all members of the government are ultimately controlled by the residents of Iowa, unless there is a conflict with the Constitution of the United States. In the end, we control that also.

Judicial independence refers only to independence from the executive and legislative branches, as it should be. However, the very important point is that none of the three branches, including judicial, is independent of the citizens.

In the state Constitution, the people reserve the right to change the Constitution to fit our principles and to remove judges whom we wish to remove for any reason. If, in the opinion of the citizens, a particular decision is judged to be in conflict with the principles of the people, the people may use any legal means to have it changed, to remove the offending judges and to write the Constitution such that it does, in fact, correspond to their principles.

If voters determine that Wiggins has usurped their rights as citizens, then vote to remove him. If not, then vote to retain.

Paul Rudolph

Coralville