Citing loss of judicial independence, Iowa judge takes early retirement
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An Iowa unemployment appeals judge is about to join the ranks of the jobless.
According to the Associated Press, Judge Marlon Mormann announced that he was taking early retirement. Mormann’s act came several months after warning legislators that he and his fellow administrative law judges at Iowa Workforce Development believed state politicians were curtailing their judicial independence.
“I’m ready to be done with it,” the 58 year-old Mormann, who ended a 24-year career with the state, told the AP. Mormann had protested Gov. Terry Branstad’s decision to appoint Teresa Wahlert as Workforce Development Director in charge of overseeing the judges. The management of judges used to be the responsibility of former Chief Judge Joseph Walsh, who has filed a wrongful-termination suit against the state, claiming he was illegally fired from his position in 2013 as a reprisal for opposing Wahlert’s policies, the AP reported in an earlier story. Wahlert says Walsh’s removal was because of budget cuts.
Mormann also cited an excessive caseload, as well as a perception that Republicans Branstad and Wahlert were pressuring judges to rule in favor of businesses.
Mormann, who is also a Republican, argued that having a non-lawyer political appointee supervise judges raised ethical questions. He also claimed that, under Wahlert’s management, caseloads have become so unwieldy that judges have become exhausted and simply rule against the side that has the burden of proof. Ironically, Mormann stated, this has caused judges to hand down more anti-business rulings, because employers typically carry the burden of proof on most unemployment law matters.
“They are losing more often,” said Mormann. “This has become an anti-business adjudicatory unit just because of caseload.”
Mormann wasn’t the only judge to raise objections about Wahlert to Iowa legislators. Judge Susan Ackerman made similar statements about Wahlert to the Iowa state senate. According to the AP, Ackerman’s current status is a question mark as she has been “out of the office” since last month and her cases have been reassigned. The Register maintains, however, that Ackerman is still an employee.
According to the AP, Workforce Development spokeswoman Kerry Koonce disputed Mormann’s claims. Koonce denied that Workforce Development judges are overworked, and says that their caseloads are actually below the national average. Koonce also dismissed Mormann’s “anti-business” claim. “I don’t even know where he’s going with that,” she said. Koonce declined to answer questions about Ackerman, saying it was a confidential personnel matter.
