Muscatine High School was at bat in the fifth inning and Spencer Ludman was waiting in the dugout for his turn at bat when a foul ball rocketed off a Davenport Assumption player’s bat and struck Ludman in the head. He suffered a skull fracture, spent months recovering from brain injuries and …
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Eighth Circuit will take another look at ISU free speech ruling
2016-17 Iowa Supreme Court status report: 69 down; 49 to go
Tomorrow the Iowa Supreme Court is expected to hand down one decision, which will bring to 69 the number of cases disposed of in the first seven months of the 2016-17 term.
After the release of tomorrow’s decision, 43 submitted cases will remain to be d …
Northern District Judge Edward J. McManus (1920-2017): A half-century on the bench
U.S. District Judge Edward J. (“Nick”) McManus of Cedar Rapids died Monday. He was 97.
McManus, a native of Keokuk, attended St. Ambrose College in Davenport for two years before transferring to the University of Iowa where he earned bachelor …
Iowa Supreme Court 2016-17 preview: Did Iowa’s anti-slavery delegates in 1857 give criminal defendants broader rights today?
Eight years before the Civil War, drafters of the Iowa Constitution incorporated language into the Bill of Rights aimed at protecting the rights of fugitive slaves who traveled to Iowa. A convicted murderer is now asking the Iowa Supreme Court to apply that language in granting his bid for a ne …
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From our archive: An interview with Justice Daryl Hecht, who died April 3
Three years ago Rox Laird, a contributor to this blog, sat down with Iowa Supreme Justice Daryl Hecht for a rare on-the-record interview ahead o …
Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could affect future wind power regulation
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Forest City April 2 in a case that raises for the first time a question about how Iowa law regulating approval of electric generating facilities applies to wind energy projects.
The argument, which is open …
Judges must know offenders’ ability to pay before ordering restitution, Iowa Supreme Court rules
Sentencing courts must know how much a convicted offender is reasonably able to pay before ordering payment of restitution to the State, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in three separate cases March 22.
In all three cases, the sentencing courts ordered offen …
A second urine test needed for OWI conviction, Iowa Supreme Court rules
An initial urine test by itself, without follow-up confirmation, was insufficient evidence for convicting a driver of operating while under the influence of a controlled substance, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled March 8 (
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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.