orchestrated in large part by a nonprofit organization called the family leader, founded by bob vander plaats. >> when you have a supreme court that is willing to legislate from the bench saying iowa will now be a same-sex marriage state and when you allow them to amend the constitution basically saying we're going to grant rights that our founders could have never imagined, that is a dangerous path to go on. >> reporter: this is former justice michael streit, one of those removed from the bench after serving 27 years, 9 years on the state's highest court. >> we did what we had to do, not what we wanted to do. and that's the essence of good judging. good judging, a fair and impartial court are courts that are allowed to rule as they must, not how they want to rule, and that's what we did here. >> judges have one job and one job only. they take an oath to uphold the constitution. >> reporter: rachel caufield is a professor of political scien at drake university and a research fellow at the american judicature society. she thinks it's the family leader and other conservative groups around the c