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Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins isn’t well known outside the legal community of his state, and even inside that group, isn’t particularly popular.

But the question of whether he should keep his job has become one of the most fiercely contested judicial issues on the Nov. 6 ballot because of what he symbolizes in the debate over gay marriage and the role of courts.

Three years ago, Wiggins and his six colleagues ruled that the state’s law banning gay marriage was unconstitutional, which made Iowa the third state to recognize same-sex unions and the first outside the coasts. The decision triggered a furor among conservatives, who mounted an aggressive campaign a year later to defeat three of the justices whose terms came up for ballot review.

Now, the future of Wiggins, whose term comes up this year, is sparking an even bigger battle as liberal groups and lawyers shocked by the outcome in 2010 fight back on his behalf. The race is being watched not only as barometer of the public’s changing attitude toward gay marriage but as a message for judges who might take up similar cases in the future.

“2010 was like a hand grenade into the Supreme Court chambers and we don’t want to have that repeated,” said Des Moines attorney Guy Cook, president-elect of the Iowa State Bar Association, which is campaigning to support Wiggins.

AP

The opposing sides have launched “Vote Yes” and “No Wiggins” campaigns and are spending heavily to get their messages out. The National Organization for Marriage provided $100,000 for an anti-Wiggins television ad this week and conservative stars Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal led a cross-state bus tour denouncing Wiggins as a liberal judicial activist. At each stop, they were trailed by a bus carrying members of the bar who defended Wiggins against that accusation.

The passion around an obscure state justice captures the heightened tension this year over gay marriage, with questions on the ballot in four states and surveys showing that public opinion is shifting on the subject.

Along with the ballot issues in Minnesota, Maine, Maryland and Washington, the Iowa vote could contribute to “a watershed moment” for gay rights, said longtime activist Donna Red Wing, executive director of One Iowa, a gay rights group supporting Wiggins.

“The reality is, if you’re living in Alabama or South Carolina, you don’t look to California or New York as your yardstick. But you do look to Iowa. If it can happen here, it can happen in those other places. That’s part of the importance,” said Red Wing.

More here:

Vote on Iowa Justice Seen as Test for Gay Marriage