A sexual harassment lawsuit against Cedar Rapids trucking company CRST that has bounced around the federal courts for more than a decade took yet another bounce at the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday. The history of this case is so contorted that the Supreme Court devoted…
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a brief order today denying a petition by 20 states, including Iowa, seeking an order blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing a challenged air pollution regulation. (See Wednesday’s post below for more background.) Chief Justice Roberts’s order does not affect…
By Ryan Koopmans When the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court meet for conference this Friday, an Iowa Supreme Court case will be on their agenda (kind of). In June, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Iowa’s ban on telemed abortion violates both the…
By Ryan Koopmans The Iowa Supreme Court won’t have to reconsider its ruling in State v. Kooima after all. Kooima held by a 4-3 vote that police may not stop a vehicle based solely on an anonymous tip that the driver is drunk. That conclusion…
By Ryan Koopmans This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Navarette v. California that officers lawfully stopped a vehicle based on an anonymous tipster’s claim that the car had run her off the road. The Court, in a 5-4 decision by Justice Thomas, concluded…
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.
