A DREAM Deferred: Federal DREAM Act Fades in Lame Duck Congress

With student and adult protestors surrounding the Capitol, the Federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act died in Congress’s latest lame duck—albeit, unusually productive—session. Senate Democrats were unable to muster the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture—the procedure...
January 5, 2011

The Importance of Citizen Oversight of the Judiciary

The Iowa Independent reports that Doug Gross,—Iowan lawyer has served as a lobbyist and as a former advisor to Iowa Governor-elect Terry Branstad—has criticized the involvement of the Iowa Bar Association in judicial elections:“They’re elitists,” Gross said of the Bar Association in an interview wit...
December 14, 2010

The JPC’s Work Continues After the Election

For most of us, as the adrenaline rush of watching a close election wears off, we forget about the returns and put aside the research into candidates we did prior to the election. But at the Judicial Performance Commission (JPC), our work continues. All judges on the retention ballot were retained....
November 10, 2010

Next Steps For The Performance Commission

The Judicial Performance Commission has released the results of its evaluation of the judicial retention candidates. Of the 69 judges listed on the retention ballot in the November election, the JPC has found only three not recommended for retention: Judge Dorothy Jones, Judge Jeffrey Lawrence, and...
October 7, 2010