Iowa tax law does not run afoul of the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution in treating certain stepchildren differently than others for inheritance-tax purposes, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in Tyler & Alcorn vs. Iowa Department of Revenue. The distinction is whether a…
Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court grappled in an oral argument Tuesday with the question of prosecuting a 13-year-old as an adult under Iowa’s youthful offender statute. Noah Crooks, who was convicted of killing his mother when he was 13, was waived by a Mitchell…
The Iowa Supreme Court is being asked to take another step toward protecting juvenile offenders from prison sentences designed for adults in an appeal set for argument Tuesday. In State v. Noah Crooks, the appellant argues that the State cannot legally or constitutionally prosecute a…
A southeast Iowa woman is asking the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn its 2010 decision that she says imposes an impossible burden on workers’ compensation claimants: proving that the outcome of the medical procedure they chose is better than a hypothetical alternative. Her employer says…
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments on Nov. 13 in an appeal brought by a former state administrative law judge who contends she was fired for blowing the whistle on her boss for improperly influencing unemployment insurance appeals. Susan Ackerman, an administrative law judge…
A Guthrie County woman made statements to her son that he interpreted as serious threats of violence against a Department of Health and Human Services child protective worker and a judge six days ahead of a hearing regarding the Department’s removal of her minor children from her care. His concerns were reported to law enforcement, and she was subsequently convicted on one count of threat of terrorism under Iowa Code Chapter 708A.
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in ten cases in January 2026. On Brief has analyzed three opinions in separate posts. The remaining opinions from January are summarized below.
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in eight cases in December 2025.
The penalty for violating Iowa’s law that bars the sale of alcohol to a person under the age of 21 is $500. The penalty for a second violation is $1,500 and a 30-day license suspension if it occurs within two years of the first. That is the law even if the second violation occurs within minutes of the first, a divided Iowa Supreme Court held in a Feb. 20 decision.
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.
