David Wiggins (born October 19, 1951) is a former Justice of the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

Education

Wiggins was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and graduated from

Niles East High School Niles East High School was a public 4–year school in Skokie, Illinois. Operated by Niles Township High Schools District 219, Niles East was first opened in 1938 and closed after the 1979–1980 school year. Niles East's sister schools Niles West ...

. He was the first in his family to attend college and received a bachelor's degree from the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

in 1973. He then attended

Drake University Law School Drake University Law School is a professional graduate law school of Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa. The school has over 330 full-time students. The school is led by Dean Jerry Anderson. Founded in 1865, Drake Law School is one of t ...

While there, he was an associate editor of the ''

Drake Law Review Drake University Law School is a professional graduate law school of Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa. The school has over 330 full-time students. The school is led by Dean Jerry Anderson. Founded in 1865, Drake Law School is one of t ...

''. He graduated with honors and

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

in 1976.

Legal career

Wiggins began his career with the

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

based firm Williams, Hart, Lavorato & Kirtley. He made

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

in 1979. The firm was eventually renamed Wiggins, Anderson, & Tully. As a private practitioner, Wiggins served on the Iowa Commission on Judicial Qualifications, the Supreme Court Advisory Commission on Judicial Redistricting, the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure, and the Supreme Court Committee on the Cost of Litigation. Wiggins also served on the Board of Governors of the Iowa State Bar Association, was president of the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association, was senior counsel for the American College of Barristers, and was master emeritus of the C. Edwin Moore

American Inns of Court American Inns of Court (AIC) are designed to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar. An American Inn of Court is an amalgam of judges, lawyers, and in some cases, law professors and law students. Each Inn meets approx ...

Iowa Supreme Court

He was appointed by Governor

Tom Vilsack Thomas James Vilsack (; born December 13, 1950) is an American politician serving as the 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture in the Biden administration. He previously served in the role from 2009 to 2017 during the Obama administration. ...

to the Supreme Court in 2003. He was the first Jewish Justice on the Iowa Supreme Court. As the senior Associate Justice, Wiggins chaired the Iowa State Judicial Nominating Commission from 2011 until

Kim Reynolds Kimberly Kay Reynolds (née Strawn; born August 4, 1959) is an American politician serving as the 43rd governor of Iowa since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Reynolds served as the 46th lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2011 to 2017. Bef ...

changed the Commission's structure to remove him as the chair and strengthen the governor's control of the committee. Following the death of Chief Justice

Mark Cady Mark Steven Cady (July 12, 1953 – November 15, 2019) was an American jurist. He served on the Iowa Supreme Court for 21 years from 1998 to 2019. From 2011 to 2019, he was the chief justice of the court. He was the author of the court's opinion i ...

, Wiggins was acting Chief Justice from November 21, 2019 to February 24, 2020. While serving as Chief Justice, Wiggins announced his intention to retire on March 13, 2020.

2012 retention

Wiggins' term was scheduled to end on December 31, 2012. Wiggins had supported the 2009 ''

Varnum v. Brien ''Varnum v. Brien'', 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009), was an Iowa Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that the state's limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. The ...

'' which declared the ban on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

unconstitutional. In the 2010 election, three justices who had supported the decision were ousted, and Wiggins faced a major retention fight in 2012. Wiggins was retained in 2012 with 54.61% of the vote.

References

External links

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1951 births 21st-century American judges Iowa lawyers Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court Lawyers from Chicago Living people University of Illinois Chicago alumni Drake University Law School alumni {{Iowa-bio-stub