…
ARCHIVE
Deeply divided Supreme Court upholds new law on absentee ballot request forms
Two starkly different perspectives were articulated by members of the Iowa Supreme Court in majority and dissenting opinions on the constitutionality of a new state statute requiring county auditors to contact voters who omit personal identification information, including their voter ID numbers, from absentee ballot request …
Iowa Supreme Court to hear appeal on constitutionality of law on absentee ballot request forms
The Iowa Supreme Court has agreed to consider an appeal in a case that could decide the constitutionality of recent legislation passed by the Iowa General Assembly that prevents county election officials from using a statewide voter database to fill in voter identification numbers missing from absentee ballot request forms. …
Iowa Supreme Court reverses Polk County ruling on absentee ballot request forms
With an election just over two weeks away, the Iowa Supreme Court Thursday appeared to close the books on a flurry of litigation on the question of what information county election officials may or may not include on absentee ballot request forms.
In an unsigned opinion in Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, De …
Lawyers overwhelmingly back Iowa judges for retention in November election
Ninety-five Iowa judges — including four members of the Iowa Supreme Court and four members of the Iowa Court of Appeals — will be standing for retention in the Nov. 3 General Election.
Under Iowa’s judicial selection process, judges and justices are appointed by the governor from a list of applicants selected by non …
FEATURED POSTS
Two assistant attorneys general subpoenaed, but only one must testify, Iowa Supreme Court holds
Two assistant Iowa attorneys general subpoenaed to testify by deposition in an employment suit against the State appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court after the trial court denied their motion to quash the subpoenas. The Supreme Court held that while one of the attorneys is shielded from testifying, the other is not.
Depart …
Iowa Supreme Court declines to overrule its precedent allowing multiple robbery charges when theft victims are also assaulted
In 2022 Brandon Lee entered the home of an elderly couple in Coggon, physically assaulted each of them with the aim of forcing them to reveal the location of cash, and left with $50,000 they had kept in a safe in the basement.
Lee was convicted by a Linn County jury for one count of theft and two counts of first-degree r …
Suit regarding ownership of Terrace Hill contents remanded to trial court by Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court sent a case back to Polk County District Court for further proceedings on a suit brought by the Terrace Hill Society Foundation against the Terrace Hill Commission regarding which party controls the collection of artifacts in the Terrace Hill governor’s mansion.
The Terrace Hill Society Foundatio …
Thirty cases yet to be decided in Iowa Supreme Court’s term ending in June
The Iowa Supreme Court has 30 cases left to decide in the two months that remain in the Court’s 2023-24 term.
The case that has been on the undecided list the longest – State v. Bauler, which raised a question of whether a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated in a traffic stop – was argued N …
EDITORIAL TEAM
ABOUT
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.