Besides filling the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, President Donald Trump has at least 17 vacancies to fill on the federal appeals courts around the country. That includes three vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear oral arguments Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn., in a trademark dispute between Iowa State University and the campus chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). ISU argues that the…
By Ryan Leemkuil Would you feel free to drive away if a police officer pulled behind your parked car and turned on his cruiser’s emergency lights? Variants of this question were recently before the Iowa Supreme Court, the Eighth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. …
How do you distinguish a wetland from an ordinary piece of farmland? That question has been the subject of protracted federal agency and court proceedings for eight years. Now it could be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. South Dakota farmers Arlen and Cindy Foster…
By Ryan Leemkuil Can a public college kick you out of school for stuff you post on Facebook? Yes, according to the Eighth Circuit’s decision today in Keefe v. Adams, a case that drew interest from numerous free speech and anti-censorship groups. Craig Keefe was…
A plaintiff suing former coworkers at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines for defamation waited too long to file suit in Polk County District Court because she failed to act on information she knew or should have known that could have formed the basis for a defamation claim before the statute of limitations expired, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a Jan. 9 decision.
Does a foreign corporation consent to the jurisdiction of Iowa’s courts when it registers with the Secretary of State to do business in this state, appoints an agent in Iowa for service of process, and is served with notice of a lawsuit through its Iowa…
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in four cases in October 2025. At the following link, you can read On Brief’s analysis of State v. Manning, concerning whether an officer’s body camera capture of a video being played for the officer qualifies as admissible evidence, by Rox Laird. The remaining opinions from October are summarized below.
The Iowa Supreme Court in a decision issued Dec. 23 reaffirmed its 2024 ruling that allowing testimony by minors in criminal trials via one-way closed-circuit video violates defendants’ right to confront their accusers under the Iowa Constitution.
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.
