Cady
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Justice Mark Cady of Fort Dodge, who has served as chief justice since January 1, has been re-elected as chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.
The vote of confidence for Cady follows the recent addition of three new justices to the seve- member court. Cady, the most senior member of the court, has served as a judge for 28 years, including 13 years on the Iowa Supreme Court. He was originally appointed to the court by Governor Terry Branstad.
"I am honored by my colleagues' confidence in me," Cady said. "I pledge to do everything in my power to ensure that Iowans continue to have a high-caliber court system that provides fair and impartial justice, according to law, and equally to all.
"To achieve this goal, the state must increase the public's access to justice. To increase access to justice we must rebuild the judicial branch workforce so we have enough judges and staff to meet the public's demand for court services throughout the state.
"To ensure that Iowa continues to have a fair and impartial court system, we must preserve Iowa's merit system for selecting judges. Merit selection is the best way to provide citizens with a fair and highly competent judiciary. Merit selection has served Iowans well for nearly 50 years."
In his time on the court, Cady has written 264 majority opinions, 56 dissents and special concurrences on the supreme court. He wrote 104 majority opinions and 12 dissents and special concurrences while on the court of appeals.
Cady earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Drake University, graduating from law school in 1978. He then served as a judicial law clerk for the Second Judicial District before he was appointed as an assistant Webster County attorney. In 1983, Cady was appointed a district associate judge and was then appointed a district court judge in 1986.
In 1994, Cady was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals and was elected chief judge for that court in 1997. He was appointed to the state supreme court in 1998.
In addition to his work on the state supreme court, Cady is an adjunct faculty member at Buena Vista University and serves on the President's Advisory Council.