Retiring California Supreme Court chief justice believes the November vote in Iowa to oust three judges is proof that a system intended protect courts from political activism needs revamping.

Ronald George told reporter Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle that states should consider appointing justices for a single term, perhaps 15 years, instead of relying on periodic popular retention votes.

The Iowa decision shows that a retention election “does not immunize a justice, on the basis of a single vote in a single case, from being in jeopardy,” George said, adding that could lead to judges being concerned about political correctness while deciding controversial cases.

The three Iowa judges who were ousted by voters took part in an April 2009 unanimous decision that resulted in legal same-sex marriages in the state. In their opinion, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a ban on such marriages by the legislature violated the state constitution’s equal protection clause.

Although only Iowans could vote on retention, many have been critical of the out-of-state money and influence that played a significant role in the statewide debate. That sort of influence, cautioned George, is only likely to increase due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations to contribute unlimited sums to independent political committees.

As The Iowa Independent previously reported, several out-of-state groups — New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage, Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Washington, D.C.-based Citizens United Political Victory Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund — spent nearly $1 million to defeat the Iowa justices and provided unsolicited materials directly to Iowa churches in an effort to influence congregations across the state.

The one Iowa-sounding organization, Iowans for Freedom, which was led by former GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats, was wholly subsidized by the American Family Association.

Many of the organizations who were intent on influencing the Iowa judicial retention election have since earned a “hate group” designation by the Southern Poverty Law Center,  which is “a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.” The group’s hate-crimes map includes a wide range of groups from Neo-Nazis and militias to black separatists and anti-immigrant groups, and its reports have focused on groups across the political spectrum, including “eco-terrorists,” “Christian-identity” groups and “nativist extremist” organizations.