IA Senate Hopefuls: Judges Must Follow Biblical Law

Four years after the Iowa State Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, the majority of the Hawkeye State’s Republican candidates for U.S. Senate have promised to block the appointment of any federal judge who doesn't follow “natural law” or possess a “biblical view of justice.” An organization called The Family Leader, one of the top financial supporters of the 2010 movement to oust the marriage-equality judges, hosted a forum for the Iowa candidates over the weekend. The moderator, right-wing commentator Erik Erikson, asked the candidates what they look for in a federal judge. Sam Clovis, who thinks the only reason Obama hasn’t been impeached yet is because he’s black, said judicial nominees must be able to “explain to me natural law and natural rights.” Matt Whitaker said judges must be “people of faith” and have “a biblical view of justice.” Not content to be outdone, State Sen. Joni Ernst said judges should have an “understanding [of] where the Constitution came from and our laws, and they all did come from God.”