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Edward Mansfield
2011 - Present
2028
14
Edward Mansfield is a judge of the Iowa Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2011. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Mansfield ran for re-election for judge of the Iowa Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Mansfield first became a member of the court by appointment. He was appointed by Republican Governor Terry Branstad in 2011.[1][2] To read more about judicial selection in Iowa, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Mansfield received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Mansfield, Thomas Waterman, and Bruce B. Zager were all appointed after three former justices lost their retention elections following a 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.[5]
Prior to his appointment to the state supreme court, Mansfield served on the Iowa Court of Appeals from 2009 to 2011.
Mansfield was included on President Donald Trump’s (R) June 2018 list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the court. Trump first released such a list during his 2016 presidential campaign and stated, “This list is definitive and I will choose only from it in picking future Justices of the United States Supreme Court.”[6][7]
Biography
Mansfield received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1978 and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1982.[8]
Mansfield was a law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit before working as an attorney in private practice for 26 years. In 2009, he was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals. Mansfield was then appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2011. As of July 2021, Mansfield had been an adjunct professor of law at Drake University since 1997, and he chaired a task force on revising the Iowa Rules of Criminal Procedure. He previously chaired the Trade Regulation Section of the Iowa State Bar Association.[8]
Elections
2020
- See also: Iowa Supreme Court elections, 2020
Iowa Supreme Court
Edward Mansfield was retained to the Iowa Supreme Court on November 3, 2020 with 69.2% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
69.2
|
802,356 | ||
No |
30.8
|
356,374 | |||
Total Votes |
1,158,730 | ||||
|
|
2012
- See also: Iowa judicial elections, 2012
Mansfield was retained in the general election on November 6, 2012, receiving 74.3 percent of the vote.[9][10]
2010
- See also: Iowa judicial elections, 2010
Mansfield was retained to the court of appeals on November 2, 2010, with 61.9 percent of the vote.[11]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Edward Mansfield did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Edward
Mansfield
Iowa
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Mansfield donated $9,850 to Democratic candidates and organizations. He was appointed by Gov. Terry E. Branstad (R) in 2011.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Mansfield received a campaign finance score of 1.03, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Mansfield received a campaign finance score of 1.03, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.21 that justices received in Iowa.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[12]
Noteworthy cases
AFSCME Council 61 v. Iowa and Iowa State Education Association v. Iowa (2019)
In two separate rulings issued on May 17, 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2017 law that amended collective bargaining rights for the state's public-sector workforce. The court ruled 4-3 in the state's favor in both cases.[13]
In 2017, then-Gov. Terry Branstad (R) signed into law a series of amendments to Iowa's public-sector labor relations law. As a result, collective bargaining units with less than 30 percent public-safety personnel (defined generally as firefighters and police officers) were barred from negotiating insurance, hours, vacations, holidays, overtime, and health and safety issues unless their employers elected to do so. Collective bargaining units exceeding the 30-percent threshold were exempted from these restrictions.[13]
The plaintiffs, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61 (AFSCME Council 61) and the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), argued the amendments violated their equal protection and associational rights under the state constitution. The defendants were the state of Iowa and the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board. Both cases were filed in state district courts, which ruled against the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs appealed these decisions to the state supreme court.[14]
In each case, the court ruled 4-3 in the state's favor. In the majority opinion covering both cases, Justice Thomas Waterman wrote: "The 2017 amendments do not infringe on a fundamental right of association. The plaintiffs 'come to us with a problem suitable only for political solution.' The plaintiffs are free to attempt to persuade public employers, such as the State and local governments and school boards, to voluntarily bargain over formerly mandatory terms. The plaintiffs otherwise must look to the ballot box and the elected branches to change this lawfully enacted statute." Justices Susan Christensen, Edward Mansfield, and Christopher McDonald joined Waterman’s opinion.[14]
Chief Justice Mark Cady and Justices Brent Appel and David Wiggins dissented. In his dissent, Cady wrote: "[The] Iowa statute ends up treating many similarly situated public employees in Iowa differently based solely on the bargaining unit they belong to and not for the reason the constitution would justify different treatment of public employees. Our constitution requires laws to treat similarly situated people equally unless there is an adequate reason otherwise. In this case, the overinclusiveness and underinclusiveness written into the statute drowned this reason out."[14]
Court rules state transportation department lacks statutory authority to regulate traffic cameras (2018)
On April 27, 2018, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled 6-0 that the state transportation department cannot regulate traffic cameras without specific authorization from the legislature. The case was brought by the cities of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Muscatine. The three cities had all installed traffic cameras on their portions of interstate and other primary highways. In 2015, the state transportation department ordered the cities to turn off some of those cameras, and the cities sued.[15]
Justice Edward Mansfield, writing for a unanimous court, said the issue that the case presented was "the reach of the administrative state." He wrote that agencies are "not free to interpret the general rulemaking authority as granting unlimited rulemaking authority."[15]
Earlier, during oral arguments in the case, Mansfield had asked a state attorney, "The question is, what authority do you have from the Legislature? Because the DOT does not get to make laws, it only gets to issue rules when the Legislature authorized it."[15]
Court rules that nonbirthing same-sex spouses must be listed on child's birth certificate (2013)
In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court decided Varnum v. Brien, ruling that the Iowa Constitution required the state to allow same-sex marriages. Following Varnum, same-sex couple Heather and Melissa Gartner were legally married. After Heather gave birth, Melissa requested to be listed as the second parent on the child’s birth certificate under Iowa’s presumption of parentage statute. The Iowa Department of Public Health refused, and the couple subsequently filed a lawsuit.[16]
Iowa’s presumption of parentage statute required the husband of a married woman to be listed as the father of his wife’s child on the child’s birth certificate, regardless of his genetic relationship to the child. Only a court finding that the husband was not the biological father could rebut the presumption of paternity and prevent the husband’s name from being included on the birth certificate.[16]
Citing Varnum, a unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruled in the Gartner couple's favor. The court held that the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution required the department to “presumptively list on a child’s birth certificate the nonbirthing spouse in a lesbian marriage when the child was born to one of the spouses during their marriage.” The court noted that “[u]nder Varnum, a sexual orientation-based classification is subject to a heightened level of scrutiny under the Iowa Constitution.”[16]
Justice Mansfield concurred in the judgment, but wrote separately. Mansfield wrote, “The Iowa Department of Public Health accepts the decision in Varnum v. Brien…for purposes of this appeal. I agree that if Varnum is the law, then [the presumption of parentage statute] cannot be constitutionally applied to deny Melissa Gartner’s request to be listed as parent on the birth certificate of the child delivered by her same-sex spouse.”[16]
Possible Donald Trump nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court
2018
Mansfield was listed by President Donald Trump (R) as a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy announced he would retire from the court effective July 31, 2018.[17] Trump ultimately chose Brett Kavanaugh as the nominee. Click here to learn more.
2017
On November 17, 2017, Mansfield was included in a third list of individuals from which President Donald Trump would choose to fill vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.
A White House statement announcing the nominees stated,[18]
| “ |
One year ago, President Donald J. Trump was elected to restore the rule of law and to Make the Judiciary Great Again. Following the successful confirmation of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States and the nomination of more than seventy Federal judges—including five individuals from his Supreme Court list—President Trump today announced that he is refreshing his Supreme Court list with five additional judges. President Trump will choose a nominee for a future Supreme Court vacancy, should one arise, from this updated list of 25 individuals. The President remains deeply committed to identifying and selecting outstanding jurists in the mold of Justice Gorsuch. These additions, like those on the original list released more than a year ago, were selected with input from respected conservative leaders.[19] |
” |
State supreme court judicial selection in Iowa
- See also: Judicial selection in Iowa
The seven justices on the Iowa Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. When a vacancy occurs on the supreme court, the State Judicial Nominating Commission submits a list of three potential nominees to the governor, who appoints one to serve as a judge. The commission consists of 17 members—nine appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Iowa State Senate and eight (two from each congressional district) elected by lawyers.[20]
Iowa law states that no more than a simple majority of the state nominating commission may be of the same gender.[21]
Newly appointed judges serve for one year after their appointment. They must then compete in a yes-no retention election (occurring during the regularly scheduled general election) if they wish to remain on the court. They then serve eight-year terms.[22]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:[22]
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- a member of the Iowa bar;
- a resident of the state, district, or county to which they are appointed; and
- under the age of 72.
Note: Retirement at 72 is mandatory, though older judges may apply to become a senior judge. Senior judges must work a minimum of 13 weeks a year and are to receive a monthly retirement annuity and an annual stipend. They must retire at age 78 (or 80, if reappointed by the supreme court for additional one-year terms).[23]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is elected by peer vote and serves a two-year term.[22]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least one year and then stands for retention.[20]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ WCF Courrier, "Supreme Court justices sworn in," June 3, 2011
- ↑ Quad-City Times, "Supreme Court administrator looks forward to stability," February 23, 2011
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Quad-City Times, "Q-C attorney named to Iowa Supreme Court," February 23, 2011
- ↑ CBS News, "Trump says Justice Kennedy's replacement will come from list of 25," June 27, 2018
- ↑ FindLaw, "Trump Revises His Supreme Court Picks," September 26, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Iowa Judicial Branch, "Edward M. Mansfield," accessed July 16, 2021
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "2012 GENERAL ELECTION CANVASS SUMMARY," accessed July 14, 2021
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Judges Standing for Retention 2012"
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "State of Iowa Official Results Report Printed Date," accessed July 16, 2021
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Gazette, "Iowa justices uphold controversial collective bargaining changes," May 17, 2019
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Supreme Court of Iowa, "AFSCME Iowa Council 61 v. Iowa: Decision," May 17, 2019
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Des Moines Register, "Traffic camera restrictions from DOT are tossed by Iowa Supreme Court," April 27, 2018
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Find Law, "GARTNER v. IOWA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH," May 3, 2013
- ↑ CBS News, "Trump says Justice Kennedy's replacement will come from list of 25," June 27, 2018
- ↑ EIN Presswire, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Five Additions to Supreme Court List," November 18, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Iowa Judicial Nominating Commissions, "State Judicial Nominating Commission," accessed September 13, 2021
- ↑ Iowa Legislature, "CHAPTER 46, 46.1 and 46.2," accessed September 13, 2021
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Iowa," September 13, 2021
- ↑ Iowa Legislature, "Judicial Retirement System," updated September 2015
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Iowa, Southern District of Iowa • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Iowa, Southern District of Iowa
State courts:
Iowa Supreme Court • Iowa Court of Appeals • Iowa district courts
State resources:
Courts in Iowa • Iowa judicial elections • Judicial selection in Iowa
