District court, Judicial District 7

Henry W. Latham

Chief Judge · District 7

About

Appointed to this post in 2013¹
Next on the ballot: November 2032, in District 7²

Chief Judge Latham was appointed to the bench in 2013 and named chief judge in 2023. Judge Latham has been a lifetime resident of Scott County. After graduating from West High School he continued his education at St. Ambrose College and ultimately obtained his law degree from the University of…

Full biography on iowacourts.gov

Retention votes

Election	Yes	No	Kept by
November 3, 2026	61,061	26,948	69.4% yes

What lawyers said

Before each retention vote, the Iowa State Bar Association asks lawyers who’ve appeared before the judge to rate them from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent), and whether the judge should be kept.³

86.7% of 113 responding lawyers said to keep the judge (2026).

Question	2026
Knowledge and use of the law	4.3
Sees the facts of a case clearly	4.3
On time for court	4.4
Listens to arguments and testimony	4.4
Runs the courtroom well	4.4
Temperament and manner	4.2
Clear, well-written decisions	4.3
Rules promptly	4.3
Uses technology to improve the courts	4.3
Avoids needless personal criticism	4.3
Decides on the law and facts, not outside pressure	4.4
Courteous and patient	4.3
Treats people equally	4.4
Fair to people without a lawyer	4.4
Said to keep the judge	86.7%
Lawyers responding	113

Source: Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review: 2026 (page 46).

Appeals from this judge’s cases

3 appeals on record; 1 reversed or vacated at least in part.⁴

Criminal appeal No. 25-1040
Iowa Court of Appeals · November 4, 2026 · Scott County · AFFIRMED
Criminal appeal No. 24-0971
Iowa Supreme Court · February 20, 2026 · Scott County · Affirmed
AI summary The defendant appealed his convictions for second-degree murder and unlawful firearm possession, arguing that the trial court made several errors regarding jury instructions and legal procedures. The court affirmed the original decision. This means the defenda…
Dr. Allen Diercks and Diane Holst v. Scott County, Iowa, and Kerri Tompkins, Scott County Auditor
Iowa Supreme Court · February 14, 2025 · Scott County · Reversed and Case Remanded
AI summary A group of citizens sued a county to gain access to the names and resumes of people applying for open positions on the board of supervisors. The lower court originally ruled that these records were confidential and could be kept private. The Iowa Supreme Court…

Notes

From the Judicial Branch’s biography of the judge. ↩
Expected: retained judges serve 6 years before the next vote (Iowa Code §46.16). A judge who retires or reaches 72 leaves sooner. ↩
Scores from the Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review, a survey of Iowa lawyers who appeared before the judge. The ISBA publishes it before each retention election; only the numbers are shown here, with a link to the page of its report they’re on. ↩
Most cases are never appealed, and a reversal can turn on a change in the law or a close question, so these counts say little about a judge’s work on their own. Iowa Funnel has Supreme Court opinions since November 2017 and Court of Appeals opinions from November 2026. ↩

Sources: the Iowa Judicial Branch; retention votes from the Iowa Secretary of State and civicAPI; lawyers’ ratings from the Iowa State Bar Association.