[This article by Matthew A. McGuire, Spencer S. Cady, and Chris E. Slack was originally published in the August 2024 issue of The Iowa Lawyer magazine.]
The period between 2018 and 2022 was a period of great change for the Iowa Supreme Court, with five of the seven current justices joining the Court d …
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in fifteen cases during June 2024. In addition to individual posts on six cases analyzed on this blog, the remaining opinions from June are summarized below.
Does a drug-sniffing dog violate a suspect’s constitutional protection against unreasonable government search and seizure by putting its paws up on the suspect’s car at the urging of its handler?
Five members of the Iowa Supreme Court said that subjecting the suspect’s car to a sniff by a drug-sniffing dog violated …
A defendant’s right under the Iowa Constitution to confront witnesses at trial is not satisfied by one-way video testimony where the witness testifying on camera is not able to see the defendant, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a 4-3 ruling handed down June 28. In reaching that conclusion, the Court declined to follow a U.S. Supreme Court precedent and overruled one of its own prior rulings.
In a 4-3 decision, the Iowa Supreme Court held that rational basis review is the applicable standard in addressing challenges to abortion restrictions under the Iowa constitution.
The Iowa State Auditor is a constitutional officer elected by the voters of Iowa to conduct audits of State and local government agencies. The Iowa Attorney General is a constitutional officer elected by the voters of Iowa to provide legal representation to State officers, including the Auditor. What happens when these two independently elected constitutional officers disagree on a legal question?
Iowa’s statute that provides qualified immunity for municipal employees does not apply to common law negligence claims against the City of Davenport and city employees by families of residents who died in the 2023 collapse of an apartment building and other residents who were injured and left homeless, the Iowa Supreme Co …
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in 10 cases Nov. 12 and 13. One other case will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Following are brief summaries of those cases.
Although renters may not want landlords entering their homes without good reason, landlords are allowed by law to reasonably enter rental properties for such things as making repairs and showing apartments to prospective renters. The question is when do reasonable entries become unreasonable?
For Alex Butter and Sydney S …
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.
