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Will voters oust Indiana Supreme Court justices over abortion decision on Election Day?

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Will voters oust Indiana Supreme Court justices over abortion decision on Election Day?


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Voters in Indiana don’t get a direct say in who gets to serve on the Indiana Supreme Court, but they do get to weigh in this fall on whether some of those justices get to stay in their roles.

Three of five Indiana Supreme Court justices will be up for retention vote on Nov. 5. Voters will be asked whether Chief Justice Loretta Rush, Justice Mark Massa and Justice Derek Molter, all appointed under Republican governors, should serve additional terms.

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While judge retention elections are typically sleepy affairs in Indiana, that isn’t true this year. The retention question has attracted more attention due to past court decisions: namely, upholding Indiana’s abortion ban.

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s near-total abortion ban in 2023 in a 4-1 decision. Molter wrote the opinion, to which Rush and Massa agreed, that the state has an interest in “protecting prenatal life” and that the Indiana General Assembly “retains broad legislative discretion for determining whether and the extent to which to prohibit abortions.”

That has led to a campaign against them from abortion-rights voters who want to make their displeasure heard over the court’s decision.

“Justices Rush, Massa, and Molter are responsible in part for Indiana’s abortion ban,” according to a Facebook post from MADVoters Indiana, an advocacy group that has been supporting Indiana’s Democratic candidates. “We can hold them accountable for their decision at the ballot box.”

Meanwhile, a group called the Committee to Preserve the Indiana Supreme Court recently launched to defend the records of Rush, Massa and Molter.

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“The court’s body of work shows a dedication to the constitution and interpreting the law as written,” according to the group’s Facebook page. “You won’t find judicial activists on the Indiana Supreme Court. Because here, they interpret the law — they don’t write it.”

Who are the justices?

All of the justices on the Indiana Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors after a merit selection process by a judicial commission. The three up for retention vote this fall are:

  • Chief Justice Loretta Rush: appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2012 and first retained by voters in 2014. She was named the state’s first woman chief justice in 2014. She was a longtime attorney in the Lafayette area and served as a superior court judge in Tippecanoe County. She has worked at the national level to address issues including courts’ responses to the mental health crisis through the Conference of Chief Justices and served as chair of the National Judicial Opioid Task Force.
  • Justice Mark Massa: appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2012 and first retained by voters in 2014. Massa started his career as a journalist in Indiana and then entered politics, serving under former Gov. Robert Orr. He then was a deputy prosecutor and an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Indiana. He also was part of the Daniels administration, serving as general counsel.
  • Derek Molter: appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2022. This is Molter’s first retention vote. He most recently served on the Court of Appeals and is from Newton County. He used to be a partner in Ice Miller law firm’s litigation practice group, where he worked on appeals in state and federal courts.

What is the judicial retention process?

Indiana’s judicial retention process serves as a “check on their performance” at periodic intervals, according to the Indiana Judicial branch website. It was put in place in 1970 after Indiana voters approved a constitutional amendment.

“Judges who are candidates for retention are not permitted to campaign or solicit public support or campaign funds unless there is organized opposition to their retention,” according to the Indiana Judicial Branch website.

If one or more of the judges is not retained, Indiana would use the judicial nomination commission to select a new lawyer, and the Indiana governor would make the appointment from a list of nominees by the commission.

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“Once appointed, a justice or judge must stand for a retention election at the first statewide general election after the justice or judge had served for two full years and, if retained, every 10 years thereafter,” according to the Indiana Judicial Branch.

A referendum on abortion?

Some abortion-rights voters appear to be using the retention votes as a way to express displeasure over the state’s near total abortion ban.

The outcome of the retention vote wouldn’t directly impact the state’s ban, however. It could even backfire for abortion-rights voters, wrote Sheila Kennedy, an emerita law and public policy professor at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, since a Republican governor would likely be in charge of the judicial nomination process, barring an upset win by Democratic governor candidate Jennifer McCormick.

“I share the anger of people who oppose Indiana’s ban, but our animus should be directed at the legislature–not at a court that, rightly or wrongly, held that the legislature had authority to act,” Kennedy wrote in a recent blog post.

Outgoing state Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, said in a Facebook post that he believed the justices are “always fair, unbiased and objective” even if he doesn’t agree with them.

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“It’s quite possible that one or more of the justices might even have voted against the bill had they been in the legislature,” Torr said. “Their decision was not about whether the law was appropriate, but simply whether or not it was constitutional.”

What do Indiana lawyers think?

Hundreds of members of the Indiana State Bar Association expressed support for retaining all three judges in its latest retention poll, released Oct. 8.

Rush had the strongest support among those polled, with 88% of the 397 respondents voting saying she should be retained. Massa and Molter each had support of 84% of those polled.

“Lawyers are uniquely qualified to evaluate members of the judiciary, as it’s important to evaluate a judicial officer on their track record rather than a single ruling,” according to a press release from the bar association.

The poll, however, represents a small slice of lawyers in Indiana. There were 6,901 attorneys who were invited to take the poll and the organization has about 10,000 members.

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Hayleigh Colombo is the senior government accountability reporter from IndyStar. She can be reached at hcolombo@indystar.com.



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Indiana University reverses course, allows student newspaper to resume print

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Indiana University reverses course, allows student newspaper to resume print



In a reversal, Indiana University Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold will allow the Indiana Daily Student to resume print editions this semester.


In a letter to the IDS editors, Reingold said he will allow the paper to use its budget through the end of the fiscal year as the editors see fit. He also called for a “reset” with the paper and asked to “affirm what unites us.”

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IDS co-editors-in-chief Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz described it as a win for student media but cautioned the campus community against considering the matter resolved.


“We do want to make sure that we ourselves and our community and our faculty and our alumni and everybody keep the administration here to their word,” Miller said to WFIU/WTIU News. “Thus far, it’s been kind of hard to trust their word, quite honestly.”


“The last time IU had a committee to look at student media, they didn’t fully follow their recommendations,” Hilkowitz said, referring to a recently announced task force on press freedom and the existing student media plan.

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“We would want more confirmation that that’s going to be binding. Also, I’m going to stand by the fact that I think our staff and the faculty and students of the media school deserve an apology.”


The university’s decision to end print editions coincided with it firing the director of student media Jim Rodenbush, who refused to remove news from a planned Homecoming edition at the university’s direction.

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Earlier Thursday,Rodenbush filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Indiana claiming IU violated his First Amendment rights.


Since then, the perception that IU censored its student paper has cost the school at least $1 million in donations and provoked the ire of faculty.


Reingold said the perception that he attempted to censor editorial content was “not grounded in fact.”

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“Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period,” he wrote. “The IDS is, and remains, editorially independent.”


He did not address the directive given to Rodenbush to remove news from the Homecoming print issue.

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The chancellor admitted the “campus has not handled recent matters as well as we should have. Communication was uneven and timing imperfect.”


He stopped short of an apology, saying that the decision to end print editions was a long-term financial plan to staunch the paper’s nearly $300,000 annual deficit.


The student media plan calls for limiting print to a few special editions per semester, but it also calls for preserving the IDS print product as a “critical learning experience for student media workers.”

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Ethan Sandweiss is a multimedia journalist for WFIU and WTIU.



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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to speak in NW Indiana Thursday

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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to speak in NW Indiana Thursday


CHICAGO (WLS) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will visit northwest Indiana Thursday.

She’s expected to bring updates on the immigration enforcement that’s happening across the area.

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Secretary Kristi Noem will give an update on recent immigration enforcement deemed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has called “wildly successful” in an interview with ABC News earlier this week.

She will be joined by Indiana governor Mike Braun in Gary along with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, among others.

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SEE ALSO: Court pauses order requiring CBP Chief Bovino to meet with judge daily on immigration operations

Her visit has been met with some criticism, though, from other local northwest Indiana leaders.

Gary’s Mayor Eddie Melton said his office was not involved with planning the event and is not participating.

Hammond’s Mayor Thomas McDermott also posting on Facebook, criticizing how the press conference was announced.

Counter-protests are expected later Thursday morning.

RELATED | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

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Bovino says nearly 3,000 people have been arrested in the Chicago area, as part of “Midway Blitz.”

The expanded immigration enforcement started in September.

Wednesday night, Governor Pritzker sent a letter to Secretary Noem, requesting a pause in ICE enforcement this weekend in and around homes, schools, hospitals, parks and place of worship, so children can safely celebrate Halloween.

The governor referenced an incident in his letter this past weekend in Old Irving Park – in which he says, federal agents reportedly interrupted a children’s Halloween parade and deployed tear gas without warning – on residents peacefully celebrating the holiday.

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Indiana BMV reports another text-related scam impacting Hoosiers

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Indiana BMV reports another text-related scam impacting Hoosiers


INDIANAPOLIS — Officials with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles are warning Indiana residents of a new scam that is being sent to Hoosiers via text.

According to a news release from the Indiana BMV, the scam asks the user for overdue payments over text, including traffic violations or unpaid tolls. The text reportedly “strongly” mimics the BMV’s mobile website and improperly cites Indiana code.

Officials said the messages should be considered fraudulent. The BMV is urging people who receive the message to delete it immediately and not click on any links.

This is not the first time that the Indiana BMV has been the subject of scam texts. According to previous reports, a scam was sent out to some Indiana residents from the “Indiana Department of Vehicles” regarding outstanding traffic tickets in early June.

“We want to make it clear that these messages are not from the Indiana BMV,” the release said. “The BMV does not send SMS text messages about outstanding penalties. In fact, the fees outlined in the messages are not ones that the agency actually collects.”

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For a list of known BMV-related scams, click here.



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