Iowa official register

SUPREME COURT 

Judicial Branch Building, Des Moines 50319; [phone] 

The Iowa Supreme Court is composed of seven justices.  The justices are appointed by the 

Governor to eight-year terms from a list of three nominees selected by the State Judicial Nominat-

ing Commission.  Justices must stand for retention in office at the first general election held after 

serving at least one year, and every eight years thereafter.  The justices elect one of their members 

as chief justice to hold office until the expiration of the member’s term. 

The Supreme Court is required to hold court at the seat of state government and elsewhere as 

the court orders and at the times the court orders. The Supreme Court has general appellate juris-

diction in both civil and criminal cases and its opinions are binding on all other Iowa state courts.  

As the constitutional head of the Iowa Judicial Branch, the Supreme Court has the authority to 

supervise the trial court and all judicial officers and court employees, to prescribe the procedure 

in matters brought before it and the rules for admission of attorneys to the practice of law. It also 

has the power to prescribe rules of civil and appellate procedure. Any rules prescribed by the 

Supreme Court and reported to the General Assembly become effective unless changed by the 

General Assembly. 

Under a 1972 constitutional amendment and the provisions of the Iowa Code, a Commission on 

Judicial Qualifications is established to receive, investigate, and evaluate allegations of judicial 

misconduct.  The commission can apply to the Supreme Court to retire, discipline, or remove a 

judge or magistrate.  The commission has seven members and is independent from the judicial 

branch.  Four members are appointed by the Governor and are subject to Senate confirmation; 

three members, a district court judge and two lawyers, are appointed by the Chief Justice of the 

Supreme Court. 

Summaries of Supreme Court decisions and the full text of the opinions are available on the 

Judicial Branch website at http://www.iowacourts.gov/Supreme_Court/Opinions.

 

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JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT 

Chief Justice Marsha K. Ternus 

Chief Justice Ternus, Des Moines, has served on the Supreme 

Court since 1993.  The members of the court selected her as chief 

justice in 2006. She is the first woman to serve as chief justice of 

Iowa’s highest court.    

Chief Justice Ternus is a native of Vinton, Iowa. She received 

her bachelor’s degree with honors and high distinction, Phi Beta 

Kappa, from the University of Iowa in 1972. She earned her law 

degree with honors, Order of the Coif, from Drake University 

Law School in 1977. While at Drake, she served as Editor-in-

Chief of the Drake Law Review.   

Before joining the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ternus 

worked in the private practice of law in the Des Moines firm of 

Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor and Fairgrave. While in private prac-

tice, she served as president of the Polk County Bar Association, 

on the Board of Governors of the Iowa State Bar Association, on 

the Iowa Jury Instructions Committee, and on the Board of Directors of the Polk County Legal 

Aid Society. She also served as president of the Board of Counselors of Drake University Law 

School.  

In addition to her judicial duties, Chief Justice Ternus has worked on a number of court initia-

tives and other efforts to improve the administration of justice.  She served as the judicial branch 

representative on the IOWAccess Advisory Council, on the judicial team that oversaw the design, 

development, and construction of the Judicial Branch Building, on the steering committee of the 

Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Planning for the 21st Century, and as co-chair of the com-

mission’s administration team.  She also served on the Multi-State Performance Test Policy Com-

mittee of the National Conference of Bar Examiners.  

Chief Justice Ternus currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief 

Justices, as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction, and as 

a member of the American Bar Association’s Bar Admissions Committee.  

Chief Justice Ternus was born in 1951. She is married and has three children. Her current term 

expires December 31, 2010.   

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IOWA OFFICIAL REGISTER 

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Justice Mark S. Cady 

Justice Cady, Fort Dodge, was appointed to the Supreme Court 

in 1998.  

He was born in Rapid City, South Dakota.  He earned both his 

undergraduate and law degrees from Drake University.  After 

graduating from law school in 1978, he served as a judicial law 

clerk for the Second Judicial District for one year.  He was then 

appointed as an assistant Webster County attorney and practiced 

with a law firm in Fort Dodge.  Cady was appointed a district 

associate judge in 1983 and a district court judge in 1986.  In 

1994, he was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals.  He was 

elected chief judge of the Court of Appeals in 1997.  

Justice Cady is a member of the Order of Coif (honorary), 

Iowa Judges Association, and Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers 

(honorary).  He also served as chair of the Supreme Court’s Task 

Force on the Court’s and Communities’ Response to Domestic 

Abuse and is a member of the Drake Law School Board of Counselors.  Justice Cady is the co-

author of Iowa Practice:  Lawyer and Judicial Ethics (Thomson-West 2007).  He is also the co-

author of Preserving the Delicate Balance Between Judicial Accountability and Independence:  

Merit Selection in the Post-White World, 16 Cornell J.L. and Pub. Pol’y 101 (2008) and the au-

thor of Curbing Litigation Abuse and Misuse:  A Judicial Approach, 36 Drake L. Rev. 481 (1987).  

Justice Cady is an adjunct faculty member at Buena Vista University and serves on the Presi-

dent’s Advisory Council.  

Justice Cady was born in 1953. He is married and has two children. His current term expires 

December 31, 2016.  

 

 

 

Justice Michael J. Streit 

Justice Streit, Johnston, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 

2001.   

Born in Sheldon, he received his bachelor’s degree from the 

University of Iowa in 1972.  In 1975, he graduated from the Uni-

versity of San Diego School of Law.   

He then practiced law in Chariton until 1983.  He also served 

as assistant Lucas County attorney and Lucas County attorney 

before being appointed as a district court judge in 1983.  Justice 

Streit was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1996.   

Justice Streit is a member of the Supreme Court Education 

Advisory Committee, Judges Association Education Committee, 

Iowa Judicial Institute, Supreme Court Judicial Technology Committee, and Bencher, Blackstone 

Inn of Court. 

Justice Streit was born in 1950. He is married and has one son.  His current term expires De-

cember 31, 2010. 

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