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Devoted to Iowa’s Appellate Litigation System
With a focus on the Iowa Supreme Court, the Iowa Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, On Brief: Iowa’s Appellate Blog is devoted to providing updates and analysis of current and ongoing appellate litigation.
The site offers benefits to attorneys, parties to litigation, and others affected by the arguments and outcomes of appellate litigation.
How Appellate Procedure Works in Iowa
- All appeals on civil and criminal matters come directly to the Iowa Supreme Court.
- Staff attorneys in the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office review all appeals and write a memo to the justices recommending whether a case should be retained by the Supreme Court or transferred to the Court of Appeals.
- Panels of three justices read those memos each month and choose which cases will be retained and which will be transferred to the Court of Appeals. It takes two votes to retain a case, but most votes on retaining cases are unanimous.
- Three-judge panels hear cases transferred to the Court of Appeals by the Supreme Court. Parties may apply to the Supreme Court for further review of a decision by the Court of Appeals.
- About 500 such applications for further review are filed with the Court each year.
- Every justice reads those applications, the Court of Appeals ruling, related briefs, and the court record.
- Then the justices vote on a “voting sheet” — marking “Y” for yes, “N” for no.
- Yes means at least a justice wants to review the case with the full court in conference, or at least look further into the case. A case may be held over and one justice may be delegated to look further into the case.
- Only one “Y” vote is needed for a case to go to a conference. All “N”s mean that case does not go to a conference. Yes votes may include comments from the justices, which are circulated, and there may be some back and forth among the justices.
- It takes the vote of four of the seven justices to grant further review.
[Note: This description of Iowa’s appellate procedure is based on an October 2020 interview with Iowa Supreme Court Justice Edward Mansfield by the Judicial Branch’s “In the Balance” podcast.]
Site Information About Appellate Litigation Includes:
- Descriptions of case rulings
- News related to state and federal appeals courts
- Case descriptions of upcoming arguments
- Calendar of cases:
- Cases argued by month
- Cases set for argument
- Cases screened for Iowa Supreme Court review
- Cases granted further review
- Access to briefs filed:
- Appellant briefs
- Appellee briefs
- Appellant reply briefs
- Amicus briefs
The blog is compiled and edited by attorneys and contributors at Nyemaster Goode. Iowa’s
largest law firm, Nyemaster Goode provides outstanding legal service to clients that range from individuals and emerging start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
FEATURED POSTS
No Fourth Amendment violation in vehicle search after drug-sniffing dog sticks its nose through an open window, Iowa Supreme Court holds
The Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure was not violated when a drug detection dog inserted its nose into the open window of a suspect’s vehicle, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a divided Dec. 6 decision.
Landowners challenging DOT eminent domain action missed a critical filing deadline, Iowa Supreme Court holds
Owners of farmland in Story County seeking to block the Iowa Department of Transportation’s condemnation of part of their property for a highway project succeeded in getting their appeal before the Iowa Supreme Court even after missing one filing deadline, but they lost their bid to revive their case in district court because they missed a second and critical deadline.
Pipeline statute giving surveyors access to private property is constitutional, Iowa Supreme Court holds
Iowa’s statute governing hazardous underground pipelines that allows pipeline developers to enter private property to conduct surveys against a landowner’s will is not an unconstitutional taking, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a Nov. 22 decision.
Divided Iowa Supreme Court upholds state law governing restoration of firearms rights
In its first decision addressing a 2022 constitutional amendment that for the first time recognizes a “fundamental” right to bear arms in the Iowa Constitution, a divided Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the Pottawattamie District Court’s ruling denying an Iowa man’s bid to have his firearms rights restored after those rights had been revoked.
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On Brief: Iowa’s Appellate Blog is devoted to appellate litigation with a focus on the Iowa Supreme Court, the Iowa Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.