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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- A decision over gay marriage could cost three Iowa Supreme Court Justices their positions.

A unanimous decision by seven Iowa Judges was made in favor of upholding the State Constitution and not making gay marriage illegal in the state of Iowa.

A little history lesson:

In 1962, a law was passed providing for the exception or retention of judges in the state of Iowa,” said Sarah Sels, Ottumwa League of Women Voters’ President. “This was to take it out of the political hands and put it into an impartial, bi-partisan group, who would appoint the judges. The people do get a chance to vote on these judges by saying [which judges] they want to retain or reject.”

Former Tea Party Candidate for Governor Bob Vander Plaats is now petitioning and advertising to reject the three Iowa Supreme Court Justices who are now up for retention or rejection in the November General Election, based on their decision to allow gay marriage.

“Every judge makes more than one decision and should be viewed in the total of their decisions,” said Sels. “They should be viewed as to whether or not they adhere to the law, whether their decisions are understandable and if they are behaving in a manner appropriate to their office.”

Sels explains the decision made by the Justices.

“It is the job of the Justices to make all of their decisions based on the State Constitution, State Law and previous decisions. Justices may not vote their personal opinion. They may not vote what is popular at that time. They must research and make this a matter of law.”

She compares the same-sex marriage decision to another unpopular decision made in 1964, over the black and white segregation of schools.

“Throughout our history, there have been unpopular decisions. For example, in the decision of Brown vs. Board of Education, if that had gone to a popular vote, we probably would still have segregated schools. However, because of the Justices that ruled that that did not fit with our constitution, that situation was addressed and I’m sure now people would agree that it was the right way to go.”

Sels and the League of Women Voters want citizens to make researched and informed votes, suggesting you visit this website, and particularly  *click here* (scroll to page 5) to view the three Justices up for retention.

“We are not personally for or against any of the Justices; we simply feel people need to make an informed decision,” said Sels. “The League would support everyone going to this website and reading about the totality of the judges’ decisions, and making a decision on whether to retain or to recall based on all of their decisions and whether or not those decisions followed the law and the Constitution. The best way to keep from making a total emotional-decision without studying the issue would be to go to the website, where you will find a biography of each of these candidates. They will let you know more of the totality of the decisions, the rating of others, an independent rating system made up of attorneys, court workers, jurors and the general public. Let that be your guide.”

If the Justices are not retained, will the gay marriage law be changed, and will gay marriage become illegal in the state of Iowa?

“I seriously doubt that it would affect the decision,” said Sels. “Since it was a unanimous decision, 7-0, removing three justices would still leave four remaining, and there would also be new justices appointed. These new Justices would not be able to publicly state their opinion before they were appointed or else they would not be able to serve or rule on a case that involves something that they had stated an opinion on publicly.”

Because the Justices cannot state their opinions before election, if it came down to electing three new Justices, they could all vote the same as the previous, declaring it un-Constitutional to illegalize same-sex marriage.

Sels also points out that if new Justices were elected, they would be elected by a bi-partisan commission and they would still need to follow the Iowa Constitution and state laws.

Also, although same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa, due to the separation of church and state, churches throughout Iowa have the right to choose to not marry same-sex couples.

The vote to retain or reject the Justices will be November 2nd, during the General Election.