IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 14–0553
Filed April 15, 2014
NED CHIODO,
Appellant,
vs.
THE SECTION 43.24 PANEL CONSISTING OF: SECRETARY OF
STATE MATTHEW SCHULTZ, AUDITOR OF STATE MARY MOSIMAN
and ATTORNEY GENERAL THOMAS MILLER,
Appellee,
ANTHONY BISIGNANO,
Intervenor-Appellee.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David L.
Christensen, Judge.
In an expedited appeal from a ruling on judicial review, the
petitioner challenges the denial of his objection to the intervenor’s
eligibility to seek elective office. AFFIRMED.
Gary D. Dickey Jr. of Dickey & Campbell Law Firm, P.L.C.,
Des Moines, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Jeffrey S. Thompson, Solicitor
General, and Meghan L. Gavin, Assistant Attorney General, for appellees.
Joseph C. Glazebrook of Glazebrook, Moe, Johnston & Hurd, LLP,
Des Moines, for intervenor-appellee.
2
Rita Bettis and Randall C. Wilson, Des Moines, for amicus curiae
American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa Foundation, Inc.
3
CADY, Chief Justice.
In this appeal, we must decide if the Iowa Constitution disqualifies
a person who has been convicted of the crime of operating while
intoxicated (OWI), second offense, from holding a public office. The state
elections panel (Panel) found the intervenor in this case was not
disqualified, as did the district court on judicial review of the Panel
decision. On our review of the district court decision, we hold a person
convicted of the crime of OWI, second offense, is not disqualified from
holding a public office in Iowa. We affirm the decision of the district
court.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
On March 11, 2014, Anthony Bisignano filed an affidavit of
candidacy for Iowa Senate in District 17 with the Iowa Secretary of State.
District 17 covers a portion of Polk County, and Bisignano sought the
Democratic nomination. Two days later, Ned Chiodo filed an objection to
the affidavit of candidacy filed by Bisignano. Chiodo had previously filed
an affidavit of candidacy for Iowa Senate in District 17. He also sought
the Democratic nomination, along with another candidate, Nathan Blake.
Blake is an assistant attorney general in the Iowa Department of Justice.
In the objection, Chiodo claimed Bisignano was disqualified from
holding public office based on his prior conviction of the crime of OWI,
second offense. Chiodo requested the Secretary of State not to place
Bisignano’s name on the primary ballot.
Bisignano was convicted in district court of OWI, second offense,
on December 9, 2013. The district court sentenced him to a term of
incarceration not to exceed two years, but suspended all but seven days
of the incarceration and placed him on probation with the Iowa
Department of Correctional Services for two years.
4
The objection filed by Chiodo with the Secretary of State was heard
by the three-person panel on March 19, 2014. On March 21, the Panel
denied the objection.
Chiodo filed a petition for judicial review of the decision of the
Panel with the district court. On April 2, the district court affirmed the
decision of the Panel. Chiodo promptly filed a notice of appeal. We
granted expedited review.
Chiodo raises two issues for review on appeal. First, he argues
Attorney General Thomas Miller was required to recuse himself from
considering the objection as a part of the three-person panel due to a
conflict of interest. Second, he claims a criminal conviction for an
aggravated misdemeanor constitutes an infamous crime, which
disqualifies a person with such a conviction from holding office under
article II, section 5 of the Iowa Constitution.
We decline to consider Chiodo’s challenge to the Attorney General’s
participation on the Panel. In oral argument, Chiodo acknowledged he
does not assert this claim to seek a remedy in this case. We thus
proceed only to consider Chiodo’s main contention that the Panel’s ruling
that OWI, second offense, was not an infamous crime was contrary to the
Iowa Constitution.
II. Scope of Review.
The Iowa Code authorizes judicial review of agency decisions that
prejudice the “substantial rights” of the petitioner.1 Iowa Code
1In the district court, the Panel argued the proper avenue for judicial review of
its action was writ of certiorari. The district court apparently disagreed, reasoning we
would employ the same standards to review a claim brought under either procedural
mechanism. The Panel has not appealed this aspect of the district court’s decision, and
its resolution is not germane to our determination in this expedited appeal.
Accordingly, we assume, without deciding, the Panel and the Attorney General are
agencies subject to the provisions of chapter 17A.
5
§ 17A.19(1), (10) (2013); accord Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm’n, 784
N.W.2d 8, 10 (Iowa 2010). Among the grounds upon which a district
court may grant relief is action that is “[u]nconstitutional on its face or
as applied” or action “based upon a provision of law that is
unconstitutional on its face or as applied.” Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(a).
“[W]e review agency action involving constitutional issues de novo.”
Gartner v. Iowa Dep’t of Pub. Health, 830 N.W.2d 335, 344 (Iowa 2013).
III. Discussion.
The laws of this state provide that a person who seeks public office
must be an “eligible elector.” Iowa Code § 39.26. An “eligible elector”
under our law is a person who possesses the qualifications to be a
registered voter. Id. § 39.3(6). The qualifications to vote have roots in
our Iowa Constitution and address concepts of citizenship, age, and
residency. See Iowa Const. art. II, § 1. In short, a person who runs for
public office in Iowa must be a person who can vote in Iowa. Thus,
restrictions on those who run for office are actually restrictions on those
who can vote.
Voting is a fundamental right in Iowa, indeed the nation. See
Devine v. Wonderlich, 268 N.W.2d 620, 623 (Iowa 1978). It occupies an
irreducibly vital role in our system of government by providing citizens
with a voice in our democracy and in the election of those who make the
laws by which all must live. See Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17, 84
S. Ct. 526, 535, 11 L. Ed. 2d 481, 492 (1964). The right to vote is found
at the heart of representative government and is “preservative of other
basic civil and political rights.” Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 562, 84
S. Ct. 1362, 1381, 12 L. Ed. 2d 506, 527 (1964); accord Yick Wo v.
Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370, 6 S. Ct. 1064, 1071, 30 L. Ed. 220, 226
(1866).
6
While our constitution underscores the importance and respect for
the voting process that gives voice to democratic governance, it does not
extend that voice to every person. As with all rights, the right to vote is
not absolute. Instead, two classes of people in Iowa are disqualified from
voting. Under article II, section 5, “[a] person adjudged mentally
incompetent to vote or a person convicted of any infamous crime shall
not be entitled to the privilege of an elector.” Iowa Const. art. II, § 5.
As with many other terms and phrases in our constitution, our
founders did not give us a definition of the phrase “infamous crime.”
From the beginning of our constitutional journey as a state, as now, the
courts have been given the role to interpret the constitution and provide
the needed definition so our constitutional principles can be applied to
resolve the disputes we face today. See Varnum v. Brien, 763 N.W.2d
862, 875 (Iowa 2009). Our founders not only declined to list specific
crimes that would disqualify people from participating in the election
process, they did not use traditional classes or categories of crimes such
as felony or misdemeanor to disqualify a voter. Instead, our founders
gave us the phrase “infamous crime.” The foundational question we face
today is whether the crime of OWI, second offense, is an infamous crime.
We do not begin our resolution of this case on a clean slate. We
have considered the meaning of the phrase “infamous crime” in the past
and have given it a rather direct and straightforward definition. We have
said “[a]ny crime punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary is an
infamous crime.” State ex rel. Dean v. Haubrich, 248 Iowa 978, 980, 83
N.W.2d 451, 452 (1957); accord Blodgett v. Clarke, 177 Iowa 575, 578,
159 N.W. 243, 244 (1916) (per curiam); see also Flannagan v. Jepson,
177 Iowa 393, 399–400, 158 N.W. 641, 643 (1916).
7
If this definition is applied to resolve the question in this case, we
need little additional analysis. Our legislature has defined the crime of
OWI, second offense, as an aggravated misdemeanor. Iowa Code
§ 321J.2(2)(b). An aggravated misdemeanor has been defined by our
legislature to be a crime punishable by imprisonment within our state
correctional system. See id. § 321J.2(4)(a); id. § 901.7. Thus, under our
existing interpretation of the phrase “infamous crime,” a strong argument
exists that Bisignano is disqualified from running for public office, as
well as participating in our democracy as a voter. He claims, however,
our prior interpretation of the phrase “infamous crime” is incorrect. The
Panel agreed with this claim, and we now proceed to consider it.
Our judicial process is built on the general principle of
stare decisis. We normally build upon and follow our past cases. Yet,
our experience has revealed times when our precedents must be
overturned. State v. Miller, 841 N.W.2d 583, 586 (Iowa 2014). Within a
system of justice, courts cannot blindly follow the past. Instead, we are
obligated to depart from past cases when they were erroneously decided.
Thus, we turn to review our prior cases that have interpreted the phrase
“infamous crime” to determine if those cases were correctly decided.
We first considered the phrase “infamous crime” outside the
context of article II, section 5. In Flannagan, the defendant continued to
maintain a “liquor nuisance” after the district court entered a decree
enjoining him from doing so. 177 Iowa at 395, 158 N.W. at 641. In
response, the district court held the defendant in contempt of court for
failing to comply with the injunction and sentenced him to one year of
hard labor in the state penitentiary. Id. at 395, 158 N.W. at 641–42.
On appeal, we were required to address the procedural rights
afforded under the constitution to a person found in contempt and
8
sentenced to the penitentiary for that contempt. See id. at 398–402, 158
N.W. at 642–44. Because the Iowa Constitution limits the imposition of
involuntary servitude to “punishment of crime,” Iowa Const. art. 1, § 23,
the case turned on whether contempt was a crime. See Flannagan, 177
Iowa at 399, 158 N.W. at 643. To make this determination, we
considered the “infamous crime” phrase found in the Fifth Amendment to
the United States Constitution. See id. at 399–401, 158 N.W. at 643–44.
In turn, we relied heavily on the case of Ex parte Wilson. See id. See
generally Ex parte Wilson, 114 U.S. 417, 422–23, 5 S. Ct. 935, 937–38,
29 L. Ed. 89, 91 (1885).
In Ex parte Wilson, the Court noted that two concepts of infamy
existed prior to the Fifth Amendment. 114 U.S. at 422, 5 S. Ct. at 937,
29 L. Ed. at 91. These two concepts addressed distinct circumstances.
See id. (citing Lord William Eden Auckland, Principles of Penal Law ch.
VII, § 6, at 54 (London 1771)). One concept focused on the mode of
punishment for a person who commits an infamous crime; the other
dealt with disqualification of a person who committed an infamous crime
from being a witness. See id. “[T]he infamy which disqualified a convict
to be a witness depended upon the character of his crime, and not upon
the nature of his punishment.” Id. at 422, 5 S. Ct. at 937–38, 29 L. Ed.
at 91. The list of infamous crimes recognized at the time included
treason, felony, forgery, and crimes injuriously affecting by
falsehood and fraud the administration of justice, such as
perjury, subornation of perjury, suppression of testimony by
bribery, conspiring to accuse one of crime, or to procure the
absence of a witness, [but not] . . . private cheats, such as
the obtaining of goods by false pretenses, or the uttering of
counterfeit coin or forged securities.
Id. at 423, 5 S. Ct. at 938, 29 L. Ed. at 91. Because the latter definition
of infamy—pertaining to disqualification—was “already established” at
9
the time the Fifth Amendment was ratified, the Supreme Court reasoned
the Fifth Amendment’s definition must incorporate the infamous-
punishment standard instead. See id. at 422–24, 5 S. Ct. at 937–38, 29
L. Ed. at 91.
We followed the reasoning from Ex Parte Wilson that the right to be
prosecuted by indictment for an “infamous crime” under the Fifth
Amendment applied the concept of “infamous punishment,” not the
particular type or character of the crime. See Flannagan, 177 Iowa at
401, 158 N.W. at 643–44. Quoting Wilson, we said, “ ‘For more than a
century, imprisonment at hard labor in the . . . penitentiary . . . has been
considered an infamous punishment in England and America.’ ” Id. at
400, 158 N.W. at 643 (quoting Ex parte Wilson, 114 U.S. at 428, 5 S. Ct.
at 940, 29 L. Ed. at 93). Thus, we held in Flannagan that a person
sentenced to a year of hard labor in the penitentiary was entitled to due
process protections. Id. at 401–02, 158 N.W. at 644. Nevertheless, we
made no effort to define an “infamous crime” under the Iowa Constitution
for purposes of disqualifying persons from voting. We also did not decide
if the punishment concept or the character-of-the-crime concept applied
to the context of voting.
A few months after we decided Flannagan, we decided Blodgett.
Unlike Flannagan, Blodgett did implicate article II, section 5 of our
constitution and required us to decide if forgery (as defined in Iowa Code
section 4853 (Supp. 1913)) was an infamous crime. See Blodgett, 177
Iowa at 578, 159 N.W. at 244. At the time, “the punishment prescribed
by statute for forgery” was “confinement in the penitentiary not more
than ten years.” Id. Our unabridged reasoning regarding the definition
of infamous crimes was: “Any crime punishable by imprisonment in the
penitentiary is an infamous crime.” Id. (citing Flannagan, 177 Iowa at
10
400, 158 N.W. at 643). However, we provided no other analysis in
explaining our decision. See id.
Our jurisprudence on infamous crimes following Blodgett sat
dormant until 1957, when we decided Haubrich. In Haubrich, the
defendant had been convicted of income tax evasion under federal law,
and the rights the parties assumed he had lost as a result of that
conviction had been restored by the governor. 248 Iowa at 979–80, 83
N.W.2d at 452. The case turned on two questions: whether a person
loses citizenship upon a federal conviction for what would constitute an
infamous crime if convicted under state law and whether the Governor of
Iowa has the power to restore such a person’s rights under Iowa law,
even if there has been no presidential pardon. See id. at 982–87, 83
N.W.2d at 453–56. Identifying the constitutional context of the case,
however, we reiterated the concept articulated in Blodgett and Flannagan
that an infamous crime was punishable by imprisonment in the
penitentiary. See id. at 980, 83 N.W.2d at 452. Thus, we did not
undertake to define “infamous crime,” but only addressed the process
and consequences that follow after a person is convicted of an “infamous
crime.” We merely followed the path first taken forty-one years before
and made no independent analysis.
This background reveals that we have never engaged in a textual
analysis of the meaning of “infamous crime” in article II, section 5. Our
trilogy of cases never examined the specific language of article II, section
5 and its surrounding context. We feel obligated to conduct this analysis
before relying on those cases to resolve this case.
In examining the text of article II, section 5, we observe that the
language used by our founders limits disenfranchisement to persons
“convicted of any infamous crime.” Iowa Const. art II, § 5. Under our
11
constitutional interpretation framework, we first look to the words used
by our framers to ascertain intent and the meaning of our constitution
and to the common understanding of those words. Rants v. Vilsack, 684
N.W.2d 193, 199 (Iowa 2004). We recognize, of course, that “words at
best are mere messengers of the thoughts and ideas they are sent to
convey.” Rudd v. Ray, 248 N.W.2d 125, 129 (Iowa 1976). Yet, the
specific constitutional language at issue speaks of a conviction of a
crime, not punishment for a crime. Moreover, our founders knew the
difference between the concepts of conviction and punishment. In
prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude under our constitution, our
founders prohibited involuntary servitude “unless for the punishment of
crime.” Iowa Const. art. I, § 23. Thus, between the two concepts of
infamy discussed in Ex parte Wilson—conviction of a crime or
punishment for a crime—the use of the word “convicted” in the infamous
crime clause reveals our founders intended the concept of “infamous
crime,” in the context of voter disqualification, to be aligned with the
concept of conviction, not punishment. There is simply no textual
support for using punishment to define an “infamous crime.”
It is also instructive that the obvious purpose of article II, section 5
was to declare those classes of persons who would be disqualified to vote.
We seek to interpret our constitution consistent with the object sought to
be obtained at the time of adoption as disclosed by the circumstances.
Redmond v. Ray, 268 N.W.2d 849, 853 (Iowa 1978). It is reasonable to
conclude our founders intended to adopt the concept of infamy
specifically applicable to the disqualification of persons from
participating in various aspects of the democratic process, not the
concept of infamy applicable to punishment and procedural rights in
criminal prosecutions. In the context of the limitation of political and
12
civil rights, infamous described the nature of the crime itself, irrespective
of punishment. See Snyder v. King, 958 N.E.2d 764, 773–76 (Ind. 2011)
(reviewing the historical backdrop of its infamous crimes clause and
concluding “[h]istory thus demonstrates that whether a crime is
infamous . . . depends . . . on the nature of the crime itself”).
It is also important to observe that the previous binary nature of
punishment in Iowa has given way to a more complex and nuanced
continuum of punishment. At the time of our constitutional convention,
only two classifications of crimes existed—felonies and misdemeanors.
Felons were sent to prison; misdemeanants were sent to jail. See Iowa
Code § 2816 (1851) (“Public offenses are divided into felonies and
misdemeanors.”); id. § 2817 (“A felony is an offense punishable with
death, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary of this state.”); id. § 2818
(“Every other criminal offense is a misdemeanor.”). Aggravated
misdemeanors did not exist in 1857 when our current constitution was
drafted, see id. §§ 2816–18, nor did they exist in 1916 when we decided
Blodgett and Flannagan, see Iowa Code §§ 8533–36, 8538 (1919); see
also Bopp v. Clark, 165 Iowa 697, 701, 147 N.W. 172, 174 (1914). The
drafters of our constitution easily could have chosen to disqualify those
convicted of crimes “punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary; the
drafters of Oregon’s constitution certainly did. See Oregon Const. art. II,
§ 3 (“The privilege of an elector, upon conviction of any crime which is
punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, shall be forfeited, unless
otherwise provided by law.” (Emphasis added.)). But, our drafters did
not.
We conclude Blodgett was clearly erroneous and now overrule it.
We also disapprove of any suggestion in Flannagan or Haubrich that the
mere fact that a crime is punishable by confinement in a penitentiary
13
disqualifies the offender from exercising the privilege of an elector.
Consequently, Chiodo’s position quickly unravels from the threads of the
three cases from which it was spun. Yet, we must still decide the
underlying question whether the crime of OWI, second offense, is an
infamous crime. Our constitution is supreme, Iowa Const. art. XII, § 1,
and if OWI, second offense, is an infamous crime, Bisignano is
disqualified from office under our constitution.
We begin our search for the meaning of the phrase “infamous
crime” by observing that our legislature defined “infamous crime” in 1994
to mean “a felony as defined in section 701.7 or an offense classified as a
felony under federal law.” See 1994 Iowa Acts ch. 1180, § 1 (codified at
Iowa Code § 39.3(8) (1995)). While the legislature may help provide
meaning to the constitution by defining undefined words and phrases,
the definition provided by our legislature itself must be constitutional.
See Junkins v. Branstad, 421 N.W.2d 130, 134–35 (Iowa 1988) (noting
the importance of a legislative definition of “appropriation bill,” but
recognizing “it does not settle the constitutional question”); cf. Powell v.
McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 549, 89 S. Ct. 1944, 1978, 23 L. Ed. 2d 491,
532 (1969) (“Our system of government requires that federal courts on
occasion interpret the Constitution in a manner at variance with the
construction given the document by another branch.”). The legislature
may not add to or subtract from the voter qualifications under the
constitution. See Coggeshall v. City of Des Moines, 138 Iowa 730, 737,
117 N.W. 309, 311 (1908). In the end, it is for the courts to interpret the
constitution. See Varnum, 763 N.W.2d at 875. This important principle
has, more than any other, helped allow our democracy to advance with
each passing generation with our constitutional beliefs intact.
14
The felony–misdemeanor distinction does offer a clean bright-line
rule. The benefits of such a rule are obvious, and the allure is tempting.
Yet, our role is to interpret our constitution by using the language found
in the constitution. We perform this role with the presumption that the
drafters of our constitution were careful and thoughtful in selecting each
word to convey the meaning they intended would be carried forward. If
the words of the constitution do not support a bright-line rule, neither
can we. Additionally, we recognize that we are dealing with a
constitutional provision that disqualifies persons from voting. Ease of
application does not justify a rule that disenfranchises otherwise eligible
voters.2
A review of article II of our constitution reveals the framers clearly
understood that an “infamous crime” and a “felony” had different
meanings. Most immediately, article II disqualifies an elector once
convicted of an infamous crime. Iowa Const. art. II, § 5. Yet, in the same
article, electors “in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the
peace” are privileged from being arrested “on the days of election, during
their attendance at such election, [and] going to and returning
therefrom.” Id. art. II, § 2 (emphasis added). If the drafters intended the
2The real and substantial political equality we enjoy, and to which we all
endeavor, owes in no small part to the universal suffrage among adult citizens.
Denying the right to vote is a privation of our highest ideals as a society:
Denying the right to vote to people who are living and working in
the community runs counter to the modern ideal of universal suffrage.
Under that ideal, each citizen is entitled to cast one vote, and each vote
counts the same regardless of who casts it. Voting thus becomes a
powerful symbol of political equality; full citizenship and full equality
mean having the right to vote.
Erika Wood, Brennan Center for Justice, Restoring the Right to Vote 4 (2009), available
at http://www.BrennanCenter.org/Publication/Restoring-Right-Vote+ (last visited
Apr. 15, 2014).
15
two concepts to be coextensive, different words would not have been
used. This reading is bolstered by article III, section 11, which privileges
members of the legislature from arrest during the session of the general
assembly, or going to and returning from session “in all cases, except
treason, felony, or breach of the peace.” Id. art. III, § 11 (emphasis
added). Our framers knew the meaning of felony and knew how to use
the term. See In re Johnson, 257 N.W.2d 47, 50 (Iowa 1977) (“It is our
duty, if fairly possible, to harmonize constitutional provisions.”). As with
our reasoning dispensing with the infamous-punishment test, if our
founders intended the infamous crimes clause to mean all felony crimes,
we must presume they would have used the word “felony” instead of the
phrase “infamous crime.” Cf. Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at 771 (“[I]f the framers
had intended the Infamous Crimes Clause to apply only to felonies, we
presume they would have used the term ‘felony’ instead of ‘infamous
crime.’ ”). Accordingly, the legislature’s decision to define an “infamous
crime” as a “felony” cannot stand alone to define the constitutional
meaning of “infamous crime” because the two terms unquestionably have
different meanings.
This analysis does not mean the legislative definition of “infamous
crime” is not helpful in deciding the definition under article II, section 5.
Cf. State v. Bruegger, 773 N.W.2d 862, 873 (Iowa 2009) (“Legislative
judgments are generally regarded as the most reliable objective
indicators of community standards . . . .”). In fact, given the long-
standing awareness of the possible interplay between aggravated
misdemeanors and our holding in Blodgett that crimes punishable by
confinement in a penitentiary are “infamous crimes,” Iowa Code section
39.3(8) (2013) may represent an evolution in our shared understanding
of the gravity of crimes that should subject an offender to
16
disenfranchisement. Cf. Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101, 78 S. Ct. 590,
598, 2 L. Ed. 2d 630, 642 (1958) (looking to “the evolving standards of
decency that mark the progress of a maturing society”); Ex parte Wilson,
114 U.S. at 427, 5 S. Ct. at 940, 29 L. Ed. at 93 (“What punishments
shall be considered as infamous may be affected by the changes of public
opinion from one age to another.”). Thus, we acknowledge the legislative
definition as a factor and turn to consider the meaning of the phrase
“infamous crime” under article II, section 5.
The meaning of the word “infamous” in the mid-nineteenth century
was “ ‘most vile; base; detestable.’ ” Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at 780 (quoting
Noah Webster, A Dictionary of the English Language 202 (rev. ed. 1850)).
It captures a concept dating back more than 2000 years to ancient
Greece, when “criminals who had committed certain heinous crimes were
pronounced ‘infamous’ and thereafter ‘prohibited from appearing in
court, voting, making speeches, attending assemblies, and serving in the
army’ and thus prohibited from influencing public affairs.” Id. at 773
(quoting Walter Matthews Grant, et al., Special Project: The Collateral
Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, 23 Vand. L. Rev. 929, 941
(1970)).
In 1839, the territorial legislature adopted a statute that declared
certain persons to be “infamous.” Additionally, the statute specifically
applied to voting. It stated:
Each and every person in this Territory who may hereafter
be convicted of the crime of rape, kidnapping, wilful [sic] and
corrupt perjury, arson, burglary, robbery, sodomy, or the
crime against nature, larceny, forgery, counterfeiting, or
bigamy, shall be deemed infamous, and shall forever
thereafter be rendered incapable of holding any office of
honor, trust, or profit, of voting at any election, of serving as
a juror, and of giving testimony in this Territory.
17
The Statute Laws of the Territory of Iowa, Code of Criminal
Jurisprudence, Tenth Div., § 109, at 182 (1839). The 1839 statute
provides us with a limited window into some specific understanding of
the meaning of “infamous crime[s]” of the day.
Of course, like Iowa Code section 39.3(8) (2013) today,3 this statute
is not a constitutional test. See Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at 780 (concluding
an 1843 Indiana statute enumerating nine infamous crimes was not a
present-day constitutional test); see also Green v. City of Cascade, 231
N.W.2d 882, 890 (Iowa 1975) (recognizing that while we give “respectful
consideration to the legislature’s understanding of constitutional
language,” we are the final arbiter of the meaning of the Iowa
Constitution). Moreover, the judgment captured by the statute in 1839
preceded our constitutional convention by nearly a generation, and it
was repealed before 1851.
More directly, it appears the drafters at our 1857 constitutional
convention intended to deprive the legislature of the power to define
infamous crimes. The proposed 1844 Iowa Constitution had contained a
provision denying the privileges of an elector to “persons declared
infamous by act of the legislature.” Iowa Const. art. III, § 5 (1844)
(emphasis added). This language was removed in the 1846 Iowa
Constitution. See Iowa Const. art. III, § 5 (1846) (“No idiot, or insane
3We recognize article II, section 5 was amended by Iowa voters in 2008.
However, there is a reason none of the parties argued the amendment gave new
meaning to the infamous crimes clause. Without any question, the amendment was
technical and intended only to update descriptions of mentally incompetent persons we
no longer use. There was no intention to update the substantive meaning of the
infamous crimes clause, and the companion judicial interpretations accordingly
continued in force unaffected by the amendment. In short, the amendment did nothing
but what it was intended to do: replace offensive descriptions of people with new
descriptions. Thus, we properly refrain from considering the amendment in our
analysis.
18
person, or persons convicted of any infamous crime, shall be entitled to
the privileges of an elector.”). While the 1846 constitution was modeled
on the 1844 constitution, historical commentary regarding 1846
convention reveals radically egalitarian and inclusive voices influenced
the debate over our incipient fundamental law: “[A] strong effort [was]
made to extend this political right to resident foreigners who had
declared their intention of becoming citizens.” Benjamin F. Shambaugh,
History of the Constitutions of Iowa 301 (1902). This suggests its
infamous crimes clause was meant to apply narrowly.
The drafters at the 1857 constitutional convention did not reinsert
the 1844 language. Certainly, the drafters at our 1857 constitutional
convention knew how to delegate authority over elections to the
legislature. Indeed, the Indiana constitutional conventions of 1816 and
1850 gave its general assembly authority to define infamous crimes.
Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at 774–75; see also Indiana Const. art. II, § 8 (“The
General Assembly shall have power to deprive of the right of suffrage,
and to render ineligible, any person convicted of an infamous crime.”).
Our founders were aware of the 1851 Indiana Constitution, but clearly
did not choose to adopt its language for article II, section 5.
As recognized by other courts, infamous crimes clauses found in
many state constitutional voting provisions are properly understood as a
regulatory measure, not a punitive measure. See Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at
781. Article II of the Iowa Constitution appears compatible with this
approach. Our framers devoted the entire article to voting. Article II
establishes the requirements to exercise the right to vote, Iowa Const.
art. II, § 1; provides safeguards to the exercise of the right to vote, id. art.
II, §§ 2–3; and lists two classes of individuals not granted the right to
vote, id. art. II, § 5. The overall approach reveals our framers not only
19
understood the importance for Iowans to have a voice in our democracy
through voting, but they further understood the fundamental need to
preserve the integrity of the process of voting by making sure it was not
compromised by voices that were incompetent to meaningfully
participate or voices infected by an infamous disposition. See Snyder,
958 N.E.2d at 781 (“The most common regulatory justification for
criminal disenfranchisement provisions is that they preserve the integrity
of elections.”).
Within this context and setting, the concept of disenfranchisement
was not meant to punish certain criminal offenders or persons adjudged
incompetent, but to protect “ ‘the purity of the ballot box.’ ” Snyder, 958
N.E.2d at 781 (quoting Washington v. State, 75 Ala. 582, 585 (1884)); see
also Otsuka v. Hite, 414 P.2d 412, 417 (Cal. 1966) (adopting the
justification), abrogated on other grounds by Ramirez v. Brown, 507 P.2d
1345, 1353 (Cal. 1973) (en banc), judgment rev’d by Richardson v.
Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24, 56, 94 S. Ct. 2655, 2672, 41 L. Ed. 2d 551, 572
(1974). Our drafters wanted the voting process in Iowa to be meaningful
so that the voice of voters would have effective meaning. Thus,
disenfranchisement of infamous criminals parallels disenfranchisement
of incompetent persons under article II, section 5. The infamous crimes
clause incapacitates infamous criminals who would otherwise threaten to
subvert the voting process and diminish the voices of those casting
legitimate ballots. As a result, the regulatory focus of
disenfranchisement under article II reveals the meaning of an “infamous
crime” under article II, section 5 looks not only to the classification of the
crime itself, but how a voter’s conviction of that crime might compromise
the integrity of our process of democratic governance through the ballot
box. See Redmond, 268 N.W.2d at 863.
20
Any definition of the phrase “infamous crime” has vast implications
and is not easy to articulate. However, we have said regulatory measures
abridging the right to vote “must be carefully and meticulously
scrutinized.” Devine, 268 N.W.2d at 623. Similarly, the Supreme Court
has said measures limiting the franchise must be “ ‘necessary to promote
a compelling governmental interest.’ ” Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330,
343, 92 S. Ct. 995, 1003, 31 L. Ed. 2d 274, 884 (1972) (quoting Shapiro
v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 634, 89 S. Ct. 1322, 1331, 22 L. Ed. 2d 600,
615 (1969)). This context helps frame both the governmental interest at
stake in protecting the integrity of the electoral process and the
individual’s vital interest in participating meaningfully in their
government. The definition of “infamous crime” turns on the relationship
particular crimes bear to this compelling interest.
Some courts have settled on a standard that defines an “infamous
crime” as an “affront to democratic governance or the public
administration of justice such that there is a reasonable probability that
a person convicted of such a crime poses a threat to the integrity of
elections.” Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at 782; see also Otsuka, 414 P.2d at 422
(“[T]he inquiry must focus more precisely on the nature of the crime
itself, and determine whether the elements of the crime are such that he
who has committed it may reasonably be deemed to constitute a threat
to the integrity of the elective process.”). Other courts limit the definition
to a “felony, a crimen falsi offense, or a like offense involving the charge of
falsehood that affects the public administration of justice.”
Commonwealth ex rel. Baldwin v. Richard, 751 A.2d 647, 653 (Pa. 2000).
Still other courts establish the standard at crimes marked by “great
moral turpitude.” Washington, 75 Ala. at 585.
21
Considering the crime at the center of this case, we need not
conclusively articulate a precise definition of “infamous crime” at this
time. We only conclude that the crime must be classified as particularly
serious, and it must be a crime that reveals that voters who commit the
crime would tend to undermine the process of democratic governance
through elections. We can decide this case by using the first part of this
nascent definition.
Throughout our history, we have separated the seriousness of
crimes by felony and misdemeanor designations. Crimes classified as
felonies are serious offenses and misdemeanors are less serious. Within
this framework, “infamous crime[s],” in light of its meaning throughout
history, would at most extend to the area of serious crimes occupied by
felonies. The concept of infamous crime is inconsistent with the concept
of misdemeanor crime. It conveys a societal judgment not present in a
misdemeanor, especially as it relates to the concept of
disenfranchisement. Even if a misdemeanor crime could theoretically
include a crime with a nexus to the voting process, see, e.g., Iowa Code
§ 39A.3 (describing election misconduct in the second degree and making
it an aggravated misdemeanor), the nexus would be too tenuous to
support disenfranchisement if considered only a misdemeanor. Thus, an
infamous crime first must be a crime classified as a felony. As a
misdemeanor crime, OWI, second offense, is not an “infamous crime”
under article II, section 5.
It will be prudent for us to develop a more precise test that
distinguishes between felony crimes and infamous crimes within the
regulatory purposes of article II, section 5 when the facts of the case
provide us with the ability and perspective to better understand the
needed contours of the test. This case does not. OWI, second offense, is
22
a crime that has never been considered by our legislature to be an
infamous crime. It is not aligned in any way with those crimes
designated by the legislature in 1839 as infamous. It is viewed by our
legislature as a misdemeanor crime.4 It is a crime that does not require
specific criminal intent and lacks a nexus to preserving the integrity of
the election process.
Our conclusion that OWI, second offense, is not an infamous crime
does not minimize its seriousness, or the seriousness of any other
misdemeanor, but recognizes our framers sought only to limit the types
of crimes that should disqualify a person from voting, and that limit was
drawn at “infamous crime[s].” A crime that was not serious enough to be
a felony a fortiori was not intended by our founding drafters to be an
“infamous crime.”
Our decision today is limited. It does not render the legislative
definition of an “infamous crime” under Iowa Code section 39.3(8)
unconstitutional. We only hold OWI, second offense, is not an “infamous
crime” under article II, section 5, and leave it for future cases to decide
which felonies might fall within the meaning of “infamous crime[s]” that
disqualify Iowans from voting.
IV. Conclusion.
We consider and reject all other claims and arguments asserted by
Chiodo. The crime of OWI, second offense, is not an infamous crime
under article II, section 5 of the Iowa Constitution. The decision of the
4Although an aggravated misdemeanor, it offers a special minimum sentence of
local imprisonment of seven days, Iowa Code § 321J.2(4)(a), making it even less serious
than other aggravated misdemeanors. Cf. id. § 903.1(2) (providing a maximum term of
imprisonment for aggravated misdemeanors when “a specific penalty is not provided”).
23
district court is affirmed. Anthony Bisignano’s name may appear on the
ballot.
AFFIRMED.
All justices concur except Mansfield and Waterman, JJ., who
concur specially; Wiggins, J., who dissents; and Appel, J., who takes no
part.
24
#14–0553, Chiodo v. The Section 43.24 Panel
MANSFIELD, J. (specially concurring).
While I agree that Anthony Bisignano should not be disqualified
from running for state senate, I cannot join the plurality opinion. I agree
with the Panel, the district court, and Iowa’s elected representatives that
felonies and only felonies are “infamous crimes” under article II, section
5 of the Iowa Constitution.
As the dissent correctly points out, the plurality throws out nearly
a hundred years of this court’s precedents. Yet what is its replacement?
That is hard to tell. Lacking a sound conceptual floor for its opinion, or a
clear test, I think the plurality has unnecessarily introduced uncertainty
and invited future litigation over voting rights. For example, I anticipate
we will now see right-to-vote lawsuits from current prison inmates.
The plurality’s assertion that its decision is “limited” does not
make it so. Let’s review the plurality’s standards, which it admits are
“nascent.” The plurality says that only felonies falling within “the
regulatory purposes of article II, section 5” disqualify a person from
voting. The plurality also says that only “particularly serious” crimes
that “tend to undermine the process of democratic governance through
elections” disqualify a person from voting. The plurality adds, “The
infamous crimes clause incapacitates infamous criminals who would
otherwise threaten to subvert the voting process and diminish the voices
of those casting legitimate ballots.”5
5The plurality sows additional confusion by citing Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S.
330, 342, 92 S. Ct. 995, 1003, 31 L. Ed. 2d 274, 284 (1972), and suggesting that a
“compelling governmental interest” must support any disenfranchisement of a voter
convicted of a crime. The plurality ignores the fact that two years after Dunn, the
United States Supreme Court rejected the view that felon disenfranchisement must be
supported by a compelling state interest, noting that the Fourteenth Amendment
expressly contemplates the disenfranchisement of voters convicted of a crime. See
25
I think most people would agree these unrefined standards
basically offer no guidance at all, therefore leaving the door wide open for
future litigation. Notably, Iowa’s constitution, and the plurality opinion
make no distinction between convicted felons who are presently
incarcerated and those who have served their time. Thus, under the
plurality’s approach, even a person who is presently serving a lifetime-
without-parole-sentence can argue that he or she should be able to vote
from prison because barring him or her from voting would “undermine
the process of democratic governance through elections.” When we
overrule precedent that established a definite rule, we owe the public
more than a welcome mat for future lawsuits.
The plurality’s approach to whether a crime is “infamous” is an
odd mix of half-hearted originalism and excessive fealty to a court
decision from Indiana. Initially, the plurality draws on mid-nineteenth
century sources to ascertain the meaning of “infamous.” According to
this review, “infamous crime” does not mean “felony” nor is it based on
the punishment for the crime. Rather, it is based on how bad the crime
is. Thus, “infamous” seems to mean something like “heinous” according
to this part of the plurality opinion. Accordingly, the plurality quotes an
1839 Iowa territorial law listing infamous crimes that disqualify a person
from voting. The Statute Laws of the Territory of Iowa, Code of Criminal
Jurisprudence, Tenth Div., § 109, at 182 (1839). Actually, this list
___________________________
Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24, 54–55, 94 S. Ct. 2655, 2670–71, 41 L. Ed. 2d 551,
570–71 (1974); see also Madison v. State, 163 P.3d 757, 767–68 (Wash. 2007)
(reviewing the caselaw that holds the right to vote is not fundamental for convicted
felons).
26
appears to include most felonies.6 I would argue that this list, if
anything, supports either of two viewpoints: (1) “infamous crime” was up
to the legislature to define, or (2) “infamous crime” meant felony.
The plurality then shifts gears and moves on to out-of-state
precedent, primarily a 2011 decision of the Indiana Supreme Court. See
Snyder v. King, 958 N.E.2d 764 (Ind. 2011). That decision interpreted
article II, section 8 of the Indiana Constitution, which provides, “ ‘The
General Assembly shall have the power to deprive the right of suffrage,
and to render ineligible, any person convicted of an infamous crime.’ ”
Id. at 768 & n.1 (quoting Ind. Const. art. II, § 8). In its opinion, the
Indiana court, like the plurality here, began with a review of historical
sources. Id. at 773–80.
However, toward the end of its opinion the Indiana Supreme Court
largely turned away from historical analysis. Instead, it decided that
article II, section 8 of the Indiana Constitution serves only a “regulatory”
purpose and that it can apply only to crimes like “treason, perjury,
malicious prosecution, and election fraud,” where the person who
committed the crime “may be presumed to pose a bona fide risk to the
integrity of elections.” Id. at 781–82. In justifying this rather stark
change in direction, the court relied on another clause of the Indiana
Constitution as well as the placement of article II, section 8 within article
II. Id. at 781. As the court explained,
[T]he Infamous Crimes Clause was not intended to be used
primarily as a retributive or deterrent mechanism of
punishment. It is a cardinal principle of constitutional
interpretation that our Constitution should be interpreted as
6Murder is not in the list, but at that time murder was punishable by death,
which made voting rights a moot point. See The Statute Laws of the Territory of Iowa,
Code of Criminal Jurisprudence, First Div., § 2, at 150.
27
a whole. Article I, § 18, of the Constitution provides that
“[t]he penal code shall be founded on the principles of
reformation, and not of vindictive justice.” Ind. Const. art. I,
§ 18. Interpreting the Infamous Crimes Clause as
authorizing the General Assembly to use a particular
punishment solely for the purpose of exacting vindictive
justice would conflict with this provision of the Indiana Bill
of Rights. And we will avoid reading such a conflict into the
Constitution unless the document itself clearly requires us to
do so.
We think instead that the Infamous Crimes Clause is
properly understood primarily as a regulatory measure.
While history clearly demonstrates its punitive
characteristics, its primarily regulatory character is clearly
demonstrated by its placement in Article II, which seeks to
regulate suffrage and elections, and the justification
underlying criminal disenfranchisement provisions generally.
Id. (citation omitted).
My colleagues here largely track Snyder but back off from fully
embracing it. Thus, the plurality does not reach Snyder’s ultimate
conclusion that violent serious felonies like murder and kidnapping
cannot disqualify a person from voting. But the plurality’s quasi-Snyder
jurisprudence has multiple problems as applied to Iowa.
First, Iowa’s situation is different from Indiana’s. Among other
things, Iowa does not have a constitutional provision requiring that
punishment be “founded on the principles of reformation.” Ind. Const.
art. I, § 18. Also, as I discuss below, Iowa amended and reenacted its
constitutional clause disenfranchising persons convicted of infamous
crimes in 2008. Importing an Indiana decision into Iowa is flawed on
this ground alone.
In addition, I think some of Snyder’s premises are questionable.
For example, I do not place much stock in the “placement” of article II,
section 8 within the Indiana Constitution. Nor do I place much stock in
the placement of article II, section 5 within the Iowa Constitution. These
are the parts of those constitutions that relate to voting. Where else
28
would you include a clause that authorizes denial of the vote to persons
convicted of crimes? So I think it is a stretch to say that because these
provisions appear in their respective constitutions under “suffrage,” we
have to interpret them narrowly.
Third, Snyder at least deals with the question of whether people in
prison can vote even if their crime is not infamous. Thus, Snyder
concludes that the state can use its “police power” to deny a convicted
person the right to vote during the term of imprisonment regardless of
the crime committed. Snyder, 958 N.E.2d at 784–85. But Snyder cites
no textual basis for this conclusion in the Indiana Constitution. Id.
Instead, Snyder relies on out-of-state cases, national “consensus,” and
the historical practice in Indiana. Id. Regardless of the merits of
Snyder’s reasoning, the opinion at least has the virtue of clarifying that
current inmates will not be able to vote. The plurality opinion here
leaves that highly important question unanswered.
Finally, whatever its flaws, Snyder does establish a somewhat clear
rule of law. Current prisoners cannot vote, whereas released prisoners
can vote unless their crime was akin to “treason, perjury, malicious
prosecution, and election fraud.” Id. at 782, 785. My colleagues’
opinion, by going only partway on Snyder, does not pass that clarity
threshold and instead fosters uncertainty.
I would grant that the plurality has done a good job of saying what
the legal standard for disqualification isn’t. It is not conviction of a
felony, conviction of a misdemeanor, or conviction of a crime with the
potential for incarceration in a penitentiary. However, other than the
indeterminate language I’ve quoted above, the plurality offers no further
guidance as to what the standard is. As I have already argued, this
29
standard is essentially no standard at all and will lead to more voting
and ballot cases as we sort out the implications of today’s ruling.
Having voiced my criticisms of the plurality, let me now explain
how I would decide this case. As I discuss below, I think there are ample
grounds for holding that our constitution, in its current form, disqualifies
felons and only felons from voting and holding public office.
Our constitution gives the right to vote to all citizens, Iowa Const.
art. II, § 1, subject to the following exception: “[A] person convicted of any
infamous crime shall not be entitled to the privilege of an elector.” Id.
art. II, § 5. Although article II, section 5 was amended and reenacted by
the general assembly and the people of Iowa a few years ago, the
prohibition on voting by persons convicted of infamous crimes dates
back to our original constitutional history. Thus, our 1857 constitution
contained this language, which it borrowed essentially verbatim from the
1846 constitution. Compare Iowa Const. art. II, § 5 (1857), with Iowa
Const. art. II, § 5 (1846).
I agree with the plurality on two points it makes about the text of
article II, section 5. First, “infamous” is rather vague language. It does
not cry out with specificity. Second, our framers’ use of the word
“infamous” and especially the phrase “infamous crime” suggest that our
interpretive focus should be on the category of crime, not the type of
punishment.
However, I think some additional lessons can be extracted from
our early constitutional history. I have already mentioned the 1839
territorial legislation that more or less equates “infamous crime” for
purposes of denying voting privileges with felony. See The Statute Laws
of the Territory of Iowa, Code of Criminal Jurisprudence, Tenth Div.,
§ 109, at 182; see also Homan v. Branstad, 812 N.W.2d 623, 629 (Iowa
30
2012) (indicating that in construing a provision of the Iowa Constitution,
“our mission ‘ “is to ascertain the intent of the framers” ’ ” (quoting Rants
v. Vilsack, 684 N.W.2d 193, 199 (Iowa 2004))). Hence, I remain
unpersuaded that “infamous crime” as used in article II, section 5 could
not mean the same thing as felony, at least if the legislature made that
choice. The plurality reaches its conclusion based exclusively on the
following syllogism:
(1) Article II, section 2 of the Iowa Constitution
provides that electors “shall, in all cases except treason,
felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on
the days of election” and article III, section 11 provides that
senators and representative “in all cases, except treason,
felony, or breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest
during the session of the General Assembly.”
(2) Because the word “felony” is used in these other
provisions of our constitution, and “infamous crime” is used
in article II, section 5, infamous crime cannot mean the
same thing as felony.
This strikes me as a relatively weak argument. The obvious point
it ignores is that the language in article II, section 2 and article III,
section 11 is a direct borrowing from Article I, Section 6 of the United
States Constitution.7 Given the specific source of these two provisions, I
do not think we can use them as a lexicon for interpreting the rest of the
Iowa Constitution. And by the way, does this mean that treason is not a
felony?
7Article I, Section 6 of the United States Constitution states,
The Senators and Representatives . . . shall in all Cases, except Treason,
Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their
Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and
returning from the same . . . .
U.S. Const. art. I, § 6.
31
As noted by my colleagues, there has been considerable water
under the bridge since 1857. In 1916, we declared that any crime
punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary was an infamous crime
for purposes of article II, section 5. See Blodgett v. Clarke, 177 Iowa 575,
578, 159 N.W. 243, 244 (1916) (per curiam). We reiterated that
interpretation in 1957. See State ex rel. Dean v. Haubrich, 248 Iowa 978,
980, 83 N.W.2d 451, 452 (1957). However, when those cases were
decided, “felony” and “crime punishable by imprisonment in the
penitentiary” were synonymous. See Iowa Code §§ 5093–5094 (1897); id.
§§ 687.2, .4 (1954). There was no such thing as an aggravated
misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary. Thus,
like the Panel and the district court, I do not regard those precedents as
controlling on whether a nonfelony that was potentially punishable by
imprisonment in the penitentiary would disqualify a person from voting.
Those cases do effectively hold that felons cannot vote or hold elective
office under the Iowa Constitution. And for that proposition, I think they
remain good law.
Furthermore, in 1994, the legislature enacted the current law that
specifically defines “infamous crime” for voting and elective office
purposes to mean a felony. See 1994 Iowa Acts ch. 1180, § 1 (codified at
Iowa Code § 39.3(8) (1995)). This takes on particular significance, in my
view, because our general assembly, in 2006 and 2007, and the voters of
our state, in 2008, repealed the existing article II, section 5 and approved
a new version. See 2006 Iowa Acts ch. 1188, § 1; 2007 Iowa Acts ch.
223, § 1.
The previous version of article II, section 5, dating back to 1857,
read, “No idiot, or insane person, or person convicted of any infamous
crime, shall be entitled to the privilege of an elector.” Iowa Const. art. II,
32
§ 5 (1857). The new version reads, “A person adjudged mentally
incompetent to vote or a person convicted of any infamous crime shall
not be entitled to the privilege of an elector.” Iowa Const. art. II, § 5
(amended 2008).
It is clear that the legislature’s specific purpose in 2006 and 2007
was to remove offensive and outdated language from article II, section 5.
However, the legislature knew it was keeping in place the prohibition on
voting by those convicted of infamous crimes and knew that its own laws
at that time defined infamous crime as a felony. See Iowa Code § 39.3(8)
(2007). It would be absurd to suggest the legislature intended to approve
a constitutional amendment that struck down its own law—Iowa Code
section 39.3(8). Therefore, when the legislature twice voted to repeal and
replace the existing article II, section 5 with a new version, I believe it
ratified its own existing interpretation of that provision under which
infamous crime meant a felony.
We have long adhered to this principle as it applies to statutory
amendments. “When the legislature amends some parts of a statute
following a recent interpretation, but leaves others intact, this ‘may
indicate approval of interpretations pertaining to the unchanged and
unaffected parts of the law.’ ” State v. Sanford, 814 N.W.2d 611, 619
(Iowa 2012) (quoting 2B Norman J. Singer & J.D. Shambie Singer,
Statutes and Statutory Construction § 49:10, at 144 (7th ed. 2008)); see
also Jenney v. Iowa Dist. Ct., 456 N.W.2d 921, 923 (Iowa 1990); State ex
rel. Iowa Dep’t of Health v. Van Wyk, 320 N.W.2d 599, 604 (Iowa 1982).
Logic dictates that this rule should apply equally to constitutional
amendments.
A decision of the Kansas Supreme Court illustrates this principle.
See In re Cent. Ill. Pub. Servs. Co., 78 P.3d 419 (Kan. 2003). In that case,
33
several companies that distributed and sold natural gas, but not in
Kansas, argued they were entitled to a constitutional tax exemption for
their inventory of gas stored in Kansas. Id. at 422. However, under a
1992 amendment to the relevant section of the Kansas Constitution,
merchants’ inventory for public utilities was denied an exemption. Id. at
424. Yet, Kansas law as of 1992 limited the statutory definition of
“public utility” to companies that were engaged in transporting or
distributing natural gas to, from, or within the state of Kansas, or that
were engaged in storing natural gas in an underground formation in
Kansas. Id. at 424–25. In concluding that this narrow statutory
definition should apply, the court indicated among other things that the
constitutional amendment should be construed consistently with “the
statutes in existence at the time the . . . amendment was proposed and
adopted.” Id. at 426. Here too, where article II, section 5 was repealed
and reenacted in 2006–2008, I believe the term “infamous crime” should
be construed consistent with the statute in existence at that time, Iowa
Code § 39.3(8). See also Cal. Motor Express v. State Bd. of Equalization,
283 P.2d 1063, 1065 (Cal. Ct. App. 1955) (finding that reenactment of a
constitutional provision “which has a meaning well established by
administrative construction is persuasive that the intent was to continue
the same construction previously recognized and applied”); Wakem v.
Inhabitants of Town of Van Buren, 15 A.2d 873, 875–76 (Me. 1940) (“It is
a general rule that a reenactment, in substantially the same language, of
a constitutional provision which had been previously construed and
explained by the court, carries with it the same meaning previously
attributed by the court to the earlier provision, in the absence of
anything to indicate that a different meaning was intended.”); Bodie v.
Pollock, 195 N.W. 457, 458 (Neb. 1923) (“It is well settled in many, if not
34
most, of the jurisdictions of the country that, where a construction of
constitutional provisions has been adopted and a constitutional
convention thereafter re-enacts such provisions, it re-enacts not only the
language of the provisions but the construction which has attached to
the same.”).
It was also no secret that Iowa law forbid voting by convicted felons
when the proposed amendment went before the public at the 2008
general election. For example, a contemporary editorial in Iowa’s largest
newspaper said the following about the proposed revision of article II,
section 5,
It is worth thinking about whether an amendment belongs in
the Constitution at all denying the vote to anyone based on
diminished mental capacity, which is a relative thing. Also,
in this section, the right to vote is denied to convicted felons,
even those who have served their sentences, which is wrong.
But those are questions for another day. For now, the
language of the Iowa Constitution should be devoid of
language that is seen as belittling.
See Editorial, Change Harsh Wording in State Constitution, Des Moines
Register, October 31, 2008, at A14.
Personally, I agree with this editorial. I believe that convicted
felons who have served their sentence and paid their debt to society
ought to be able to vote, without requiring dispensation from the
governor. By permanently disenfranchising convicted felons, Iowa puts
itself in a small minority of three states. But my personal views do not
carry weight when it comes to interpreting the Iowa Constitution.
Because the Iowa Constitution forbids convicted felons but not
convicted misdemeanants from voting, I concur in the result in this case.
Waterman, J., joins this special concurrence.
35
#103/14–0553, Chiodo v. The Section 43.24 Panel
WIGGINS, Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The plurality is rewriting nearly one
hundred years of caselaw. I do not think we should do so at this time.
Our constitution sets the qualifications of electors as follows:
Every citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one
years,8 who shall have been a resident of this state for such
period of time as shall be provided by law and of the county
in which he claims his vote for such period of time as shall
be provided by law, shall be entitled to vote at all elections
which are now or hereafter may be authorized by law. The
general assembly may provide by law for different periods of
residence in order to vote for various officers or in order to
vote in various elections. The required periods of residence
shall not exceed six months in this state and sixty days in
the county.
Iowa Const. art. II, § 1.
After giving certain persons the right to vote, the constitution
disqualifies certain persons from voting. Id. art. II, § 5. It provides “a
person convicted of any infamous crime shall not be entitled to the
privilege of an elector.” Id.
We have consistently defined “infamous crime” under our
constitution as a crime for which the legislature fixed the maximum
punishment as confinement in prison. State ex rel. Dean v. Haubrich,
248 Iowa 978, 980, 83 N.W.2d 451, 452 (1957); Blodgett v. Clarke, 177
Iowa 575, 578, 159 N.W. 243, 244 (1916) (per curiam); Flannagan v.
Jepson, 177 Iowa 393, 400, 158 N.W. 641, 643 (1916). When the
legislature adopted the legislative scheme to have three classes of
misdemeanors in Iowa Code section 701.8, see 1976 Iowa Acts ch. 1245,
8Amendment XXVI to the United States Constitution lowered the voting age
applicable to the states to eighteen years of age. U.S. Const. amend. XXVI.
36
§ 108 (codified at Iowa Code § 701.8 (1979)), it knew the constitutional
definition of “infamous crime” was any crime for which the legislature
fixed the maximum punishment as confinement in prison. Thus, by
conscious choice, the legislature made an aggravated misdemeanor an
infamous crime.
Eliminating our bright-line rule is not only unnecessary, but also
dangerous. Now, we can no longer look to the crime’s penalty to
determine who can vote and who cannot vote. Rather, we now apply
certain factors to make that determination. The plurality’s approach
does little to settle the law. I say this for a number of reasons.
First, I agree with the plurality that the legislature cannot write a
constitutional definition of “infamous crime” by its enactment of Iowa
Code section 39.3(8) (2013).9 The legislature cannot disqualify a voter by
defining “infamous crime” under our constitutional scheme because the
constitution defines who is and who is not an eligible elector. See
Coggeshall v. City of Des Moines, 138 Iowa 730, 744, 117 N.W. 309, 314
(1908) (invalidating an election where the City of Des Moines did not
allow women to vote). However, the plurality implies section 39.3(8) is a
factor we should consider to determine if a crime is an infamous crime
and relies heavily upon this factor to reach its conclusion in this case.
The plurality should not use the legislature’s pronouncement in section
39.3(8) to control our constitutional duty to interpret the Iowa
Constitution.10
9The legislature defines “infamous crime” as “a felony as defined in section
701.7, or an offense classified as a felony under federal law.” Iowa Code § 39.3(8)
(2013).
10It also can be argued the 2008 amendment amending article II, section 5
considered the legislature’s definition of “infamous crime” when the amendment passed.
However, I think it is doubtful because the crux of the 2008 amendment was to replace
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Second, the factors enumerated by the plurality are so imprecise
that a citizen of this state who has committed a crime has no idea as to
whether he or she is eligible to vote. Under the plurality’s factor
analysis, some persons convicted of a felony may be able vote, while
some persons convicted of a misdemeanor may not be able to vote. The
plurality’s factor analysis adds considerable uncertainty as to who can
and who cannot vote. Is a person with a conviction for operating while
intoxicated third, a felony, disqualified to vote? On the other end of the
spectrum, is a person with a conviction for aggravated misdemeanor
theft11 disqualified to vote? This uncertainty will keep many qualified
voters from the polls for fear of prosecution for voter fraud.
Finally, our election officials will have the same problems as our
citizens in determining who can and cannot vote. This uncertainty will
lead to greater election day problems and the casting of an inordinate
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the words “no idiot, or insane person” with “a person adjudged mentally incompetent.”
Compare Iowa Const. art. II, § 5 (1857), with Iowa Const. art. II, § 5 (amended 2008). I
believe the explanation to the house joint resolution confirms my doubts. When the
committee on state government introduced the proposed amendment the explanation
provided in relevant part:
This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the
State of Iowa relating to persons who are disqualified from voting or
holding elective office. The resolution removes the words “idiot” and
“insane” from the constitutional provision and substitutes the phrase
“mentally incompetent to vote”.
H.J. Res. 5, 81st G.A., 2nd sess. (2006).
There is no indication in the official legislative history that the legislature considered
the clause of article II, section 5 dealing with infamous crimes when it proposed the
amendment. See City of Cedar Rapids v. James Props., Inc., 701 N.W.2d 673, 677 (Iowa
2005) (“We give weight to explanations attached to bills as indications of legislative
intent.”).
11A person who steals property valued at $1000 commits an aggravated
misdemeanor while a person who steals property valued at $1001 commits a felony.
Iowa Code § 714.2(2)–(3).
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amount of provisional ballots. See Iowa Code § 49.81 (providing for the
casting of provisional ballots).
For these reasons, I see no reason why at this time we should
redefine the term “infamous crimes.” Today I fear we are abandoning a
seaworthy vessel of precedent to swim into dangerous and uncharted
waters.