Thirty years in the practice of law teaches you a lot about listening and reading between the lines. In the case of Bob Vander Plaats calling on the other four Supreme Court justices to resign he’s showing his cards about what is really on his mind. The only remaining question is whether the public is smart enough to see the slippery slope Bob’s plan entails. What Vander Plaats wants to accomplish is packing the court with activist judges who will rule against abortion and any other law he and his backers don’t like. If allowed to accomplish their goal they will turn back the hands-of-time and make changes no one wants. They will be free to turn them back to when some of us couldn’t own land in our name because we were female, some of us had to ride in the back of the bus because of the color of our skin and red-lining neighborhoods so the lower income Iowans wouldn’t spoil the economic class of a neighborhood.

Vander Plaats says four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices should resign, Des Moines Register, December 8, 2010

So what’s telling me this? Well first let’s put BV in perspective. Bob Vander Plaats hasn’t ever won the election he’s so wanted to win so he could live at Terrace Hill and become an instant celebrity. For most of his career he’s found himself on the outside and irrelevant to the discussion. It seems like as long as I’ve lived in Iowa BV has been running for Governor. Good Lord find a real job. Today he finds himself “relevant” for the first time in his political life and is using up his fifteen minutes of fame to capitalize on his new found fame. He’s like many divorce clients I’ve seen over the years. In the practice of law you listen to a lot of talk and if you’ve an ounce of talent you learn to listen to not just what is being said, but what isn’t being said. You learn to listen to what the witness accuses others of; and that will often times lead you to know what the speaker is thinking and probably doing or going to do.

If you want to know what is really going on in their mind, just listen to what they accuse someone else of doing.

In this case Vander Platts is accusing others of being “activist judges” and that shows his mindset and what he himself wants to do. If successful what he and his people will do is to install activist judges that he and his followers can control. That’s why they attack the nomination process. If they can pack the judicial nomination commission they are one step closer to packing the Iowa Supreme Court. If they can install a majority of their followers on the nomination committee they can then control who is appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court and with that control the rulings from the Iowa Supreme Court. This is exactly what the founding fathers intended to prevent with, among other things, the Equal Protection clause. Maybe Justices Ternus, Streit and Baker can't speak up, but to hell if I can't.

While Vander Plaats is the guy out front Branstad, like any polititian seeing opportunity for political gain is more than willing to join in.

What Vander Plaats claims others are, is exactly what he is. What he accuses others of doing is exactly what he hopes to accomplish. He and his followers need activist judges on the Court. What’s going on is parallel to a case I sat on early in my career. This entire argument of BV’s reminds me of Dave Dutton’s closing argument in a case out of Sioux City in the 1980’s. In closing arguments before Federal Judge O’Brien, Dave said that the plaintiff was yelling long and loud accusations against the local sheriff so the jury would ignore what wrongs the plaintiff had committed. To make his point he used a Bible Verse. Dave’s father having been a minister in Colfax he learned a lot about the Bible from sitting on hard wood pews through long sermons. Let’s see if I can do his line justice. Bob, you’re pointing out what you characterize as the splinter in the eye of the Court so we will ignore the log sticking out of your own.

Luke 7:42 – “Or how can you say to your brother, “Brother let me take out the speck that is in your eye,” when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”

I’m starting to wonder why Mr. Vander Plaats finds gay people so offensive. To borrow a quote from Shakespeare, "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." Come on BV, what are you really afraid of?