The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Feb. 21 in a special evening session in Des Moines to accommodate members of the public who are unable to attend daytime sessions of the Court. Oral argument will be heard in an appeal by Wakonda Club…
The Iowa Supreme Court should overturn its 2018 ruling that the Iowa Constitution protects the fundamental right of a woman to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy, the State of Iowa argues in an appeal to the court in a case to be argued Feb….
A list of property owners who asked the Polk County Assessor’s Office to remove their names from the search function on the assessor’s website is a public record, but the list is exempt from disclosure under an exception in the Iowa Open Records Act, the…
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in eight cases December 14 and 15, and five other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Go to Iowa Brief’s “Cases in the Pipeline” page to read briefs in these appeals. Following are summaries…
Convicted offenders serving indeterminate prison sentences in Iowa do not have a constitutional right to parole, the Iowa Supreme Court has held in the past. But in a decision handed down Nov. 23, Bomgaars, et al., v. State, the Court held that Iowa’s parole statute…
The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of a human trafficking charge and clarified that, under the 2024 statute, a defendant cannot commit human trafficking by attempting to buy sex from a victim who does not exist.
In a 5–2 decision filed on June 12, 2026, the Iowa Supreme Court in State v. Gibbs upheld a mother’s three child endangerment convictions under Iowa Code section 726.6(1)(a). Chief Justice Christensen wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices McDonald, Oxley, McDermott, and May. Justice Mansfield filed a partial dissent, joined by Justice Waterman, concurring as to two convictions but dissenting as to the third.
In a unanimous decision filed on May 22, 2026, the Iowa Supreme Court in State v. Hall held that a defendant need not be the person who initiated an encounter to commit harassment.
In a divided 5–2 decision issued on March 27, 2026, the Iowa Supreme Court held that the search of a visitor’s backpack found on the premises during the execution of a search warrant did not violate the visitor’s rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or article I, section 8 of 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.
