UPDATES & ANALYSIS
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules twice in one week upholding Arkansas death penalty process
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued two rulings this week, clearing the way for Arkansas to carry out its plan to execute eight convicted murderers. That is assuming there are no more emergency appeals to state and federal courts.
Late T …
Four Iowa Supreme Court opinions on State’s duty to protect nursing home residents from a convicted sex offender
The placement of a serial sex offender in a nursing home where he assaulted an elderly woman “cries out for a remedy,” Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman noted in an opinion concurring with the Court’s read more
Iowa Supreme Court: Patient safety reports are privileged under ‘morbidity and mortality’ statute
Patient safety reports produced by hospital employees are off limits to discovery in legal proceedings, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday, because confidentiality encourages hospital staff to be comfortable in candidly reporting safety concerns.
Dennis Wi …
2016-17 Iowa Supreme Court preview: Do high school baseball dugouts need to be completely enclosed?
Muscatine High School was at bat in the fifth inning and Spencer Ludman was waiting in the dugout for his turn at bat when a foul ball rocketed off a Davenport Assumption player’s bat and struck Ludman in the head. He suffered a skull fracture, spent months recovering from brain injuries and …
Eighth Circuit will take another look at ISU free speech ruling
FEATURED POSTS
Question to be argued before the Iowa Supreme Court: Games of skill or chance?
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments Friday in Iowa City in a case that could determine whether gaming devices that resemble slot machines could be placed in Iowa businesses other than bars.
The Court will hear oral arguments at 10:30 a.m. Friday in < …
Eighth Circuit rules ‘In God We Trust’ on U.S. currency is constitutional
The motto “In God We Trust” has been printed on U.S. currency since the Civil War, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit confronted the question of whether it violates the Constitution for the first time in an Aug. 28
Neil Gorsuch, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, made a case for defending the rule of law in a conversation a Q-and-A-format conversation with Lavenski Smith, Chief Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, at the Eighth Circuit conference in Des Moines Friday.
Susan Christensen told her husband some years ago that she wanted to be a judge, and she reached that goal when she became a District Associate Judge in 2007 and a District Judge in 2015. But her climb up the judiciary ladder did not end there: On Wednesday, Christensen was appointed as an Asso …U.S. Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch shares his views on preserving the rule of law at Des Moines conference
District Judge Susan Christensen named to the Iowa Supreme Court
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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.