There is no time limit on law-enforcement traffic stops before the line is crossed into a Fourth Amendment violation, the Iowa Supreme Court said in a Dec. 8 decision, and courts must thoroughly examine the record to determine where to draw that line in each case.
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in eight cases Dec. 13 and 14. Three other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Go to On Brief’s “Cases in the Pipeline” page to read briefs filed in these cases. Following are brief summaries of the December cases.
When Robert Geddes entered onto the private property of five Boone residents without permission, he violated Iowa’s trespass statute. It became a more serious crime when he taped “Burn that gay flag” messages on the front doors of those residences, which were displaying rainbow flags. That elevated the charge to tresp …
In the nearly six decades since the Voting Rights Act was enacted by Congress, federal judges have assumed private parties could bring suits in federal court to enforce the law that prohibits state or federal election policies that deny the right to vote based on race or color.
That assumption was upended in a Nov. 20 de …
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in fourteen cases during December 2023. You can read Rox Laird’s analysis of State v. Geddes, State v. Arrieta, Harding v. Sasso, and Hummel v. Smith and Hilts v. Smith. The remaining opinions from December are summarized below.
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) paid a female employee less than a male employee in a comparable position, but the pay differential did not amount to illegal discrimination, according to a Feb. 2 opinion by the Iowa Supreme Court.
Sandra Selden, an Application Support Analyst 2 in the DMACC information technolo …
The Polk County District Court did not exceed its authority in denying class action status to a group of Iowa chiropractors suing Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield for alleged unlawful price fixing, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a Jan. 26 ruling.
Stewart Schuman completed a prison sentence for sex crimes in 2012. But in the decade since, Shuman, who is now 69 years old, has been confined in a sex-offender treatment unit in the Cherokee Mental Health Institute following his civil commitment as a sexually violent predator.
In 2022 the Story County District Court ru …
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.
