The Iowa Supreme Court may love it, but I'm going to guess the voters don't! Constitutional amendment in 3! 2! 1!
They'd have to wait at least four years. Iowa has a very convoluted referendum process.
Basically, in order to amend the constitution in Iowa, you need consecutive approval from both houses of the legislature in two separate legislative sessions, then you need a majority vote from the population.
The Democrats hold a 31-19 majority in the Iowa Senate and a 56-44 advantage in the House. Those numbers may be sufficient for an amendment to pass the House, but they certainly are not for it to pass the Senate. The Senate leadership has commented that it will squash any attempt to pass an amendment. In any case, the deadline for submitting new bills for the 2009-2010 session passed about a month ago.
In the best case scenario for the anti-marriage people, then, Republicans make substantial gains in the 2010 election, enough to pass the amendment in the 2011-2012 session. But, even if it passes in both houses in the 2011-2012 session, it has to be passed
again in the 2013-2014 session before being able to be brought before the people in a referendum. If it is passed quickly in the 2013-2014 session, the amendment could be on the ballot in 2013.
So, yeah. This is an extremely decisive victory.
