Illinois voters will be the judge when it comes to whether one particular member of the bench keeps his position.
Catholic Charities and evangelical adoption and foster care groups stood their ground against an attempt by the state to force them to permit homosexuals to adopt children. Judge John Schmidt of Springfield ruled against them.
David Smith who heads Illinois Family Action, tells OneNewsNow that now Schmidt may experience the consequences of that decision as Illinois voters decide whether to remove him from the bench.
"With the passage of civil unions in Illinois, now the state of Illinois is requiring that these great childcare agencies be required to violate their belief that children should not be placed intentionally into homes devoid of a mother or intentionally devoid of a father," Smith explains.
Illinois Family Action has made recorded phone calls to 25,000 households in Judge Schmidt's district to remind them of the ruling.
"We want to make sure that voters in Central Illinois in a six-county area understand that this judge ignored our state constitution, which guarantees that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination shall be forever guaranteed," Smith says.
The campaign hopes to not only oust Schmidt, but also to send a message that the public expects the courts to comply with the constitution.
In Iowa in 2009, the state Supreme Court voted unanimously to legalize homosexual "marriage." Three of the justices involved in that decision have since been voted off the court, and a fourth is being challenged in Tuesday's election.