Legal Benchmarks in Iowa's History
Welcome to "Legal Benchmarks in Iowa's History." In this timeline, we'll explore key moments that have shaped Iowa's legal landscape. From early territorial disputes to modern-day legislation, we'll highlight significant court cases, legislative actions, and constitutional amendments. Join us on a journey through Iowa's legal history, where we discover the laws and decisions that have influenced the state's development. From groundbreaking court decisions to legislative acts that have defined rights and responsibilities, Iowa's legal history is rich with significance.
1838
Territorial Government of Iowa is formed. The Iowa Territorial Supreme Court, probate courts, district courts and justices of the peace are created. Iowa territorial library, later to become the Iowa State Law Library, is formed by the same act of congress that established the Iowa Territorial Government.
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1838
The Supreme Court holds its first session in Burlington. Charles Mason is appointed by President Martin Van Buren to be the first Chief Justice of the Iowa Territorial Supreme Court.
1839
Iowa Territorial Supreme Court convenes to hear arguments in In re Ralph, 1 Bradford 3, 1 Morris 1, the first reported decision of the court. Ralph, a former slave who escaped to the North for freedom was allowed to go free despite his former master’s attempts to have him returned to Missouri.
1844
Iowa Territorial Supreme Court decides case of United States, ex. Rel. Jones v. Fanning, 1 Morris 348, upholding Iowa’s legislative grant of the exclusive right to operate a ferry crossing over the Mississippi River
1846
Iowa joined the Union as the twenty-ninth state.
1849
In Iowa v. Missouri, United States Supreme Court decides the border between Iowa and Missouri.
1853
Act of Congress creates the Northern, Central and South Divisions of Iowa federal district court. In 1859 Congress reapportions the Iowa federal district into Northern, Southern and Western divisions and designates Dubuque, Keokuk and Des Moines as places for holding court. In 1882 Iowa federal court is divided into two districts, Northern and Southern.
1857
Iowa Constitution is signed.
1862
Samuel Freeman Miller, of Keokuk, is nominated and confirmed by the United States Senate as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In 1873 Justice Miller writes the majority opinion in the Slaughter House cases establishing the scope of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. His career continued until his death in 1890. He wrote 616 opinions.
1862
In the Post Civil War years, Iowa’s economic growth is slowed by the disputes over bonds issued by governmental entities to fund railroad construction. Often, the economic benefits of the railroad did not meet expectations, and citizens of the issuing government resisted repaying the debt. Years of litigation occur over the validity of the bonds, with state and federal courts often in conflict. Usually, the obligations are upheld. Burlington and Missouri Railroad Company v. City of Wapello, Gelpke v. Dubuque (Miller dissenting).
1865
Iowa Law School is formed in Des Moines by Justice George W. Wright, of Keosauqua, using the resources of the Iowa State Law Library. Justice Chester Cole, of Des Moines, is the other faculty member. It later moves to the Old Capitol in Iowa City as the law department of the University of Iowa.
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1868
Iowa Supreme Court decides the landmark Clark v. The Board of Directors, holding that the Iowa Constitution guarantees the right of public education to all citizens and that segregated schools are inherently unequal. Brown v. Board of Education is not decided until 1954.
1869
Arabella Babb Mansfield, of Mt. Pleasant, is admitted to the Iowa Bar, the first woman to be admitted to the practice of law in the United States. United States Supreme Court upholds an Illinois statute limiting law licenses to white males.
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1869
John F. Dillon, of Davenport, is appointed the first United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit by President Grant. He previously served as an Iowa Supreme Court Justice. In 1879 he became a Professor of Law at Columbia University and a lecturer at Yale. He expressed what has become the ‘Dillon’s Rule’ that cities derive their powers from the state which may exercise complete control over them.
1870
In 1870 Iowa Legislature amends state law on licensing lawyers, dropping the requirement that to qualify for the practice of law an individual must be a ‘white male.’ Congress creates a Central Division of federal court in Iowa, with the designated court for the Central Division at Des Moines and the Western Division changed to Council Bluffs.
1870
Congress creates a Central Division of federal court in Iowa, with the designated court for the Central Division being Des Moines and the Western Division changed to Council Bluffs.
1873
Mary Beth Hickey, of Newton, graduates from Iowa Law School, thought to be the first woman to graduate from a public law school in the United States.
1873
Iowa Supreme Court rules in Coger v. The North Western Union Packet Co., holding an African American woman was entitled to the same rights and privileges as white passengers on train. The same conclusion is not reached by the United States Supreme Court until Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964), a case that upheld the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
1874
The Iowa State Bar Association is founded in Des Moines.
1875
Justice Chester Cole starts a law school in Des Moines which becomes the Drake University Law School in 1881.
1876
Martha Angle becomes the first woman graduate of the Drake Law School.
1879
George Alexander Clark, Jr., of Muscatine, graduates from the Iowa Law School. He is the first African-American to graduate from the Iowa Law School and is thought to be the second African-American to graduate from a public law school in the United States. He was the son of George Alexander Clark, the plaintiff in Clark v. Board of Directors, who himself graduated from the Iowa Law School in 1884 at 57 years of age.
1882
Iowa federal court is divided into two districts.
1892
In Nebraska v. Iowa, the United States Supreme Court settles a boundary dispute between Nebraska and Iowa, holding that where the Missouri River shifted by avulsion, the boundary line did not change from the center line of the old channel, and that Carter Lake remained in Iowa.
1893
In Iowa v. Illinois, the United States Supreme Court declares that the boundary line between Iowa and Illinois is the middle of the main navigable channel of the Mississippi River, and not the middle of the great bed of the stream as defined by the banks of the river.
1898
John Lay Thompson, of Decatur County, becomes the first African American graduate of Drake Law School. He publishes the Iowa Bystander from 1896 to 1922.
1899
The Northern United States District Court decides In Re Lelah-Puc-Ka-Chee which prevents compulsory attendance at an Indian training school in Toledo.
1900
Drake Law School and University of Iowa College of Law become charter members of the American Association of Law Schools.
1901
In Cherry v. Des Moines Leader; the Iowa Supreme Court holds a newspaper review of a performance by sisters Effie, Addie and Jessie Cherry, of Marion, which described their singing as ‘like the wailings of damned souls’ as protected from a claim of libel by privilege to be overcome only by actual malice.
1908
In Coggeshall v. City of Des Moines, Des Moines suffragist Mary Jane Coggeshall sues to invalidate bond issue election because of the failure to allow women to vote. The Iowa Supreme Court holds constitutional grant of suffrage to ‘male’ voters does not conflict with a statute authorizing women to vote in local government elections, and voids the bond issue.
1915
Iowa Law School establishes the Iowa Law Review.
1916
In Hutchinson Ice Cream Co. v. Iowa, the United States Supreme Court holds that an Iowa statute forbidding the sale of a product as ‘ice cream’ which did not include at least 12 percent butter fat was not invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment.
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1918
Gertrude Rush, of Des Moines, is the first African American woman admitted to the practice of law in Iowa.
1920
In Davis v. Van Kamp, the Iowa Supreme Court makes the doctrine of implied warranty applicable to foods sold for human consumption.
1923
In Bartels v. Iowa, the United States Supreme Court reverses the conviction of an Iowa school teacher for teaching eight grade school pupils in a parochial school to read German, contrary to an Iowa statute that required the use of the English language as the medium of instruction in all secular subjects in all schools.
1924
Beulah Wheeler, of Des Moines, becomes the first African American woman to graduate from Drake Law School.
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1925
National Bar Association is founded in Iowa.
1935
Wiley Rutledge is appointed Dean of the Iowa Law School. In 1939 Wiley Rutledge is appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1943 Wiley Rutledge is appointed Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He serves until his death in 1949.
1941
World War II has a profound effect on the legal profession in Iowa. Lt. John (Johon) Sherman Greene, of Colfax, is the first officer casualty of the Pacific War at Pearl Harbor. By 1945, over 600 Iowa lawyers are serving in the armed services, and others are serving in federal agencies such as the FBI. Many members of the faculties of both the Drake Law School and the Iowa Law School have to participate in the war effort. Drake Dean A.M. Tollefson serves as a Lt. Col. in the Army. At least two other Drake faculty members also leave for military service. Most of the faculty of the Iowa Law School leave to participate in the war effort, including Dean Mason Ladd. In Dean Ladd’s absence, long-time professor Percy Bordwell serves as Interim Dean of the Iowa Law School for five years. Student enrollment at both law schools plummets dramatically. In March of 1943, the Drake Law School has only 26 students, compared to its typical enrollment of 80-90, and five of those students are set to enter military service in April. In 1944, Drake has an enrollment of only three or four students and considers closing until the end of the war. Likewise, the Iowa Law School’s enrollment drops to 123 in 1943 and 26 in 1944; many of those students are women.
1947
Iowa Judges and Attorneys in post-WWII tribunals: War crimes trials are held at Nuremberg after World War II, and Iowa Supreme Court Justice Charles Wennerstrum, of Chariton, is appointed by President Truman to serve as a trial judge in May 1947. He acts as the presiding judge of a three judge panel in the ‘Hostages Case.’ In the Hostages case, high German military officers are tried for crimes against civilians in the Balkans. Despite convictions and long sentences for most of the defendants, Wennerstrum is critical of the process, including lack of an appeal right and lack of a neutral judicial panel, fearing the trials amount to victor’s justice and set bad precedent in the event of future wars. His views become public and he carries on an open and sometimes contentious debate with the chief prosecutor Telford Taylor. Former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Leon Powers, of Denison, an Iowa Supreme Court Justice from 1934 to 1936, serves on the panel in the ‘Ministries Case.’ The Ministries case explores the culpability of bureaucratic leaders in a totalitarian state. Powers dissents in 37 of the 49 convictions, taking a very narrow view of the law of war. He states in his dissent - ‘To be guilty the defendant must have participated in the initiation of a war or aggression. In order to do that, he must have committed some act intended to have some effect in bringing about a war, knowing it would become a war of aggression. That evidence is conspicuous by its absence here.’ ; In Japan, Owen Cunningham, of Des Moines, defends General Oshima Hiroshi, former ambassador to Germany and one of the architects of the Tripartite Pact, the treaty that solidified Japan’s full military alliance with Germany and Italy. Oshima is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1951
Legal Aid Society of Polk County created.
1958
Luther T. Glanton, of Des Moines, becomes Iowa’s first African American Judge when he is appointed a municipal court judge. He becomes a District Associate Judge in 1973, a District Judge in 1979 when he is appointed by Governor Ray.
1958
Richard W. Peterson, of Council Bluffs, becomes a United States Commissioner, the predecessor position to United States Magistrate and United States Magistrate Judge. He serves until 2005 and was the longest serving judicial officer of this kind.
1962
Iowa approves a constitutional amendment that established a merit selection system for the selection of all appellate and district court judges.
1963
Kidnapper Victor Feguer is executed in Iowa in the last federal execution for more than 38 years.
1965
Mandatory judicial retirement age was set at 72 for judges appointed after July 1, 1965. Those judges and justices selected before that date may serve until age 75.
1965
Iowa’s death penalty abolished.
1968
Judge Martin Van Oosterhout of Orange City becomes the first Iowa judge to serve as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
1969
A system of 18 chief judges is established to supervise over district court judicial officers and employees within the judicial district.
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1969
In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., the United States Supreme Court holds that the right of public school students to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1969
Iowa adopts 40-year marketable record title statute.
1970
In Hawkeye-Security Co. v. Ford Motor Co., the Iowa Supreme Court adopts strict tort liability in product defect actions.
1970
In re: Legislative District of General Assembly, Iowa Supreme Court implements United States Supreme Court’s reapportionment decisions in Reynolds v. Sims and Baker v. Carr.
1970
Ronald E. Longstaff of Des Moines is appointed Iowa’s first federal magistrate judge while continuing to serve as clerk of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
1971
Iowa adopts no fault for dissolution of marriages.
1971
Administrative office of the Judicial Branch established. The state court administrator is responsible for managing the Judicial Branch and administering funds appropriated to it. In 1969 Iowa’s eighteen judicial districts are consolidated into eight judicial districts. A chief judge is appointed to each district for a two-year term. Together, the eight chief judges and the chief justice of the Supreme Court make up the judicial council, which advises the Supreme Court on court administration. In 1973 Unified Trial Court Act of 1973 reforms the state court system by establishing a unified trial court known as the ‘Iowa District Court.’ This legislation abolishes over 500 justice-of-the-peace courts, 899 mayor’s courts, 14 municipal courts, and 34 police courts. The Act establishes the positions of judicial magistrates and district associate judges. The Act also establishes simplified, cost-effective methods of handling minor civil and criminal cases.
1972
Iowa’s eighteen judicial districts were consolidated into eight judicial districts. A chief judge was appointed to each district for a two-year term. Together, the eight chief judges and the chief justice of the supreme court make up the judicial council, which advises the supreme court on court administration.
1973
In Kersten Co., Inc. v. Dep’t of Social Services, the Iowa Supreme Court abolishes common law immunity for the state in contract actions.
1973
Lynne Brady Neuhaus of Cedar Rapids becomes the first woman as District Associate Judge when she is appointed by Sixth Judicial District Judges.
1973
The Iowa Code of Judicial Conduct, a code of ethics for judges, was approved by the Iowa Supreme Court. The legislature creates a seven member Commission on Judicial Qualifications.
1974
Iowa Supreme Court established the Client Security Fund to separate and protect clients’ money given to an attorney.
1975
In Alsager v. District Court for Polk County, the Federal District Court holds Iowa’s law for terminating parental rights to be unconstitutional.
1975
Iowa adopts Administrative Procedure Act.
1975
In Cedar Rapids Comm. Sch. Dist. v. Parr, Iowa Supreme Court strikes down a school district regulation requiring pregnant school teachers to take mandatory leave without disability benefits as discriminatory.
1976
Iowa Court of Appeals is established, initially composed of five judges.
1976
In State v. Pilcher, the Iowa Supreme Court strikes down Iowa’s criminal sodomy statute on constitutional overbreadth and invasion of privacy grounds.
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1977
Roxanne Conlin, of Des Moines, becomes the first woman United States Attorney when she is appointed by President Carter.
1977
Margaret Stevenson Briles, of Davenport, becomes the first woman District Judge when she is appointed by Governor Ray.
1977
Legal Services Corporation of Iowa is founded.
1977
In Chicago Title Insurance Company v. Huff, the Iowa Supreme Court upholds Iowa statute prohibiting in state sales of land title insurance. Title Guaranty division of the Iowa Financial Authority is established in 1985 guaranteeing land titles.
1978
Janet A. Johnson, of Des Moines, becomes the first woman Court of Appeals judge when appointed by Governor Ray. She serves until she becomes Dean of Pace Law School in New York.
1978
Ruth Klotz, of Des Moines, becomes the first woman full-time probate referee in Iowa, becoming an Associate Probate Judge in 1994.
1978
In Bearbower v. Merry, the Iowa Supreme Court abolishes the common law tort of criminal conversation.
1979
In Shook v. Crabb, the Iowa Supreme Court abolishes the common law doctrine of interspousal tort immunity.
1981
In Fundernan v. Michelson, the Iowa Supreme Court abolishes the common law tort of alienation of affections.
1981
In Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp., the United States Supreme Court holds that an Iowa statute barring the use of 65-foot double-trailer trucks within the State unconstitutionally burdens interstate commerce.
1981
In Nix v. Whiteside, the United States Supreme Court holds that the accused’s constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel is not violated when Iowa attorney Gary Robinson, representing Whiteside, indicates that he would notify the trial court and seek to withdraw from the representation if Whiteside insists on presenting perjured testimony.
1981
In Turner v. Turner, the Iowa Supreme Court abolishes the common law doctrine barring children from suing their parents.
1981
In Cole v. Taylor, the Iowa Supreme Court holds that a woman who murdered her husband cannot maintain a damages claim against her psychiatrist for not preventing her from committing the murder.
1983
The Iowa legislature approved the Court Reorganization Act, transferring the expense of operating the court system (except the costs of district court facilities) from the counties to the state.
1984
Iowa Supreme Court adopts IOLTA which allows interest accrued on pooled trust account funds to be used for legal services for the poor and for legal related education.
1984
In Nix v. Williams, the United States Supreme Court holds that the inevitable discovery exception to the exclusionary rule permits the admission of evidence about the discovery of the body of Pamela Powers near Interstate 80 in Polk County at the murder trial of Anthony Erthel Williams.
1984
Iowa enacts modified comparative fault in response to Goetzman v. Wichern, which eliminated contributory negligence as a complete defense in negligence actions, and adopts the doctrine of comparative negligence. This decision is followed by the legislature’s enactment of a modified comparative fault statute.
1985
Celeste Bremer, of Davenport, is the first woman appointed United States Magistrate Judge.
1986
Linda Neuman, of LeClaire, is the first woman appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
1986
Lee M. Jackwig, of Des Moines, becomes the first woman to serve as a United States Bankruptcy Judge from Iowa.
1987
In Puerto Rico v. Branstad, the United States Supreme Court holds that federal courts have power under the Extradition Act of 1793 to compel the Governor of a State to deliver up a fugitive from justice to another State or Territory.
1989
In Mallard v. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, the United States Supreme Court holds that federal law did not authorize a federal district court in Iowa to require an unwilling Iowa attorney to represent an indigent litigant in a civil case.
1991
With the appointment of David R. Hansen, of Iowa Falls, by President Bush, Judge Hansen and Judge George G. Fagg, of Marshalltown, become the first two Iowans to serve simultaneously on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
1993
Don Nickerson, of Des Moines, becomes the first African American United States Attorney in Iowa when he is appointed by President Clinton.
1998
Appellate restructuring plan approved by the Iowa legislature; Iowa Court of Appeals increases from six to nine members and the Iowa Supreme Court is reduced from nine to seven members.
1998
In Knowles v. Iowa, the United States Supreme Court holds that a full search of an automobile pursuant to issuance of a citation for speeding, as authorized by Iowa statute, violates the Fourth Amendment.
1998
In Diehl v. Diehl, the Iowa Supreme Court abolishes the common law doctrine barring parents from suing their children.
1999
Rosemary Shaw Sackett, of Pocahontas, is the first woman elected chief judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals.
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2002
Linda R. Reade, of Des Moines, becomes the first woman United States District Court Judge when she is appointed by President George W. Bush. She becomes the first woman chief judge in 2007.
2002
David R. Hansen of Iowa Falls becomes Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
2003
Legal Services Corporation and Legal Aid Society merge to create Iowa Legal Aid. American Judicature Society moves to Drake University’s campus.
2003
In Fitzgerald v. Racing Association of Central Iowa, the United States Supreme Court holds that an Iowa law that imposes a tax rate of up to 36 percent on slot machines at race tracks but a tax rate of only 20 percent on riverboat slot machines does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. On remand the Iowa Supreme Court affirms its ruling that the difference in tax rates violates the Iowa Constitution.
2006
Marsha K. Ternus, of Des Moines, is the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.
2009
In Varnum v. Brien, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down a 1998 state law banning same-sex marriage. The Court concluded that the ban was a form of sexual orientation discrimination and thus amounted to a denial of equal protection under the Iowa Constitution. The Court’s opinion stated: Our responsibility, however, is to protect constitutional rights of individuals from legislative enactments that have denied those rights, even when the rights have not yet been broadly accepted, were at one time unimagined, or challenge a deeply ingrained practice or law viewed to be impervious to the passage of time.
2010
Three of the seven Justices stood for retention in the November 2010 elections and were targeted for removal. Chief Justice Marsha K. Ternus, Michael J. Streit and David L. Baker lost their seats on the Court. They received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2012.
2012
Iowa Supreme Court Justice David S. Wiggins was retained by voters during the 2012 retention election.
2015
In Obergfell v. Hodges the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2016
The remaining three Iowa Supreme Court Justices who joined in the Varnum decision, Mark S. Cady, Daryl L. Hecht, and Brent R. Appel, were retained in the 2016 retention election.