By Ryan Koopmans This morning, Iowa Court of Appeals Judge Richard Doyle reminds us why the appendix shouldn’t be an afterthought: I concur, but write separately to address a not uncommon appendix infirmity. Implicit in our rules of appellate procedure is that the parties include…
By Ryan Koopmans Governor Branstad has appointed District Judge Thomas Bower to the Iowa Court of Appeals. Judge Bower, an 18-year veteran of the First Judicial District and current Chief Judge of the district, will fill the vacancy left by Chief Judge Rosemary Shaw Sackett. This is Governor Branstad’s…
By Ryan Koopmans Today the Iowa Court of Appeals decided that “printing a judicial election ballot on the same piece of paper as the general election ballot” will not lead to a “constitutional crisis,” and thus there is insufficient justification to waive the requirement of…
By Ryan Koopmans The State Judicial Nominating Commission interviewed 18 candidates today for the Court of Appeals and selected three: (1) Thomas Bower, chief judge of the First Judicial District; (2) Susan Christensen, district associate judge of the Fourth Judicial District; and (3) Jeanie Vaudt,…
By Ryan Koopmans The State Judicial Nominating Commission is calling for applications to fill the the vacancy that will be created when Chief Judge Rosemary Sackett retires in January. Applications are due by October 31, and the Commission will meet on November 8 and 9 to interview and…
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.
