“No employer in America is or can be required to employ a racial bigot.” So begins Judge C. Arlen Beam’s dissent from a ruling Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upholding the reinstatement of a union worker fired for hurling…
Federal court practitioners and court observers may want to keep their schedules flexible next summer: The 2018 Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference is scheduled to be held in Des Moines Aug. 15-17. The conference could feature an appearance by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who…
A federal appeals court Monday upheld the summary-judgment dismissal of an Iowa family’s civil lawsuit following the shooting death of Robert Michael Dooley by a Van Buren County sheriff’s deputy. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit acknowledged that…
A Christian evangelist who wants to take his religious message to the Iowa State Fair has again been rebuffed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The federal appeals court based in St. Louis, which has jurisdiction in seven Midwest states including…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued two rulings this week, clearing the way for Arkansas to carry out its plan to execute eight convicted murderers. That is assuming there are no more emergency appeals to state and federal courts. Late Thursday,…
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in eleven cases in November 2025. On Brief’s analysis of In re Davenport Hotel Building Collapse, No. 24-0727, concerning whether statutory qualified immunity protections apply to the City of Davenport and city employees in the context of common law negligence claims brought by families of residents who died in a 2023 apartment building collapse, is posted separately on this blog. The remaining opinions from November are summarized below.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has informed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that the State of Iowa will be seeking review by the U.S. Supreme Court of the Eight Circuit’s October 2025 ruling affirming the district court’s preliminary injunction barring enforcement of Iowa’s statute that makes it a state crime for a noncitizen previously deported to reenter the state.
Trial courts have a duty under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to assure that a criminal defendant who cannot afford to hire a lawyer is provided one at the State’s expense. To comply with that constitutional mandate, Iowa created the Office of State Public Defender (SPD) to employ attorneys to provide indigent defense or to contract with attorneys in private practice willing to take on those criminal cases.
Online video provider TikTok does business with millions of American users in all 50 states, including Iowans who have downloaded the company’s app hundreds of thousands of times and who agree to its terms of service. Still, the company argues, it should not have to defend itself against a lawsuit filed in state court by the Iowa Attorney General claiming the company misrepresents the nature of its content available to Iowa children.
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.
