Chapter 8
Courts and judges
The third branch: how Iowa’s courts are organized, how judges are chosen, and how voters decide whether to keep them.
How the courts are organized
Supreme Court justices. The state’s highest court: it has the last word on Iowa law and the Iowa Constitution, sets the rules lawyers and courts follow, and runs the judicial branch. The justices choose one of themselves as Chief Justice.1
Court of Appeals judges, who hear most appeals, usually in panels of three.2
judicial districts, each covering several counties, where trials happen. Every county has a courthouse and a clerk of court.
How judges are chosen
Iowa doesn’t elect judges in contested races. Since a 1962 amendment to the Iowa Constitution, it uses merit selection: a commission screens applicants, and the Governor picks from its short list.
- A seat opensA judge retires (by 78 at the latest), resigns or isn’t retained.
- Lawyers applyAnyone qualified can apply. The nominating commission interviews them in public.
- A short listWithin 60 days the commission sends the Governor its nominees: three for a Supreme Court seat, two for a district court seat.
- The Governor picksFrom that list only. If the Governor doesn’t choose within 30 days, the Chief Justice does.
The State Judicial Nominating Commission picks nominees for the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The Governor appoints nine members, with Senate confirmation, and the state’s lawyers elect eight, two from each congressional district. The members choose their own chair.3
That makeup dates from a 2019 law. Before it, the Governor’s appointees and the lawyers’ picks were equal in number and the longest-serving justice other than the Chief Justice chaired the commission. The change gave the Governor’s appointees a majority.4
Each judicial district has its own commission for district judges: five members appointed by the Governor and five elected by local lawyers, chaired by the district’s longest-serving district judge. District associate judges are chosen the same way, by the Governor from the district commission’s nominees.5
Open seats, applicants and nominees: judicial vacancies.
Retention elections
Judges then face the voters, alone and without an opponent, in a yes-or-no retention election on the November ballot of even-numbered years.
- When: first at the general election after a judge’s first full year on the bench, then every 8 years for Supreme Court justices and every 6 years for other judges.
- To stay: a judge needs more yes votes than no votes. A judge who isn’t retained leaves the bench at the end of the year, and the seat is filled the usual way.6
- Where: Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges are on every ballot in the state. District judges appear only in their judicial election district, so your ballot lists the ones who serve your area.
Almost every judge is retained, usually by wide margins. The best-known exception is 2010, when voters removed three Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice, after the court’s unanimous 2009 ruling in Varnum v. Brien allowed same-sex couples to marry. It was the first time Iowa voters had removed a justice since merit selection began.
Information before you vote
Judges don’t campaign, so there’s little news about them. Two places to look:
- The Iowa State Bar Association’s Judicial Performance Review, published every two years a few weeks before the election: lawyers who have appeared before each judge rate their knowledge of the law, fairness, temperament and more, and say whether the judge should be retained. It’s a survey of lawyers, a private association’s work, not an official ruling.7
- A judge’s own record: for appeals judges, the opinions they wrote; for trial judges, how often their cases are appealed and what happened on appeal.
See every judge, with when each is next on the ballot, and the judges on your sample ballot.
How a case reaches the Supreme Court
- TrialNearly every case starts and ends in district court. A magistrate’s decision is appealed to a district judge.
- AppealEvery appeal from district court is filed with the Supreme Court, which reads each one.
- Kept or transferredThe Supreme Court keeps the cases with new or important legal questions and transfers most of the rest to the Court of Appeals.
- Further reviewWhoever loses at the Court of Appeals can ask the Supreme Court to take another look, usually within 20 days. It grants only some of these.
The transfer and further review rules are in the Iowa Code.8 Decisions are published as opinions, which explain the court’s reasoning; a justice who disagrees can write a dissent. Iowa’s highest court has the last word on Iowa law, but questions of federal law can go on to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read recent opinions.
The courts’ budget and the other branches
- Money: the Legislature sets the judicial branch’s budget each year, in the justice system appropriations bill. It pays for judges, clerks, court reporters and juvenile court officers. The Chief Justice’s Condition of the Judiciary speech each January is the branch’s case to lawmakers.
- Laws: the Legislature sets the number of judges and the courts’ jurisdiction, and can change a law the courts have interpreted. It can’t overrule a decision about what the Iowa Constitution means; that takes a constitutional amendment.
- Rules: the Supreme Court writes the rules for how courts work. Many of them go to the Legislative Council, which can delay them.
Looking up a case
Court records are public, with some exceptions such as juvenile cases. The judicial branch runs a free online case search (Iowa Courts Online), and each county’s clerk of court can help in person. Iowa Funnel doesn’t republish cases about private people.
On Iowa Funnel
- Courts · Iowa’s courts at a glance
- Opinions · recent Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions
- Judges · every judge, and when each is next on the ballot
- Vacancies · open seats, applicants and nominees
- Judges on the ballot · retention votes and results
- Your sample ballot · with the judges up for retention where you live
Check yourself
Pick an answer to see how you did. Nothing is saved.
1. How many justices sit on the Iowa Supreme Court?
Five
Not quite. The Supreme Court has seven justices; the Court of Appeals has nine judges.
Seven
Right. The Supreme Court has seven justices; the Court of Appeals has nine judges.
Nine
Not quite. The Supreme Court has seven justices; the Court of Appeals has nine judges.
2. How do Iowa judges first get their jobs?
The Governor appoints them from a commission’s nominees
Right. Since 1962 Iowa has used merit selection: a nominating commission screens applicants, and the Governor picks from its list.
The Legislature elects them
Not quite. Since 1962 Iowa has used merit selection: a nominating commission screens applicants, and the Governor picks from its list.
They win contested elections
Not quite. Since 1962 Iowa has used merit selection: a nominating commission screens applicants, and the Governor picks from its list.
3. What does a judge need to win a retention election?
More yes votes than no votes
Right. A judge needs more yes than no votes to stay (Iowa Code §46.24).
Two-thirds yes
Not quite. A judge needs more yes than no votes to stay (Iowa Code §46.24).
At least 60% of the votes cast
Not quite. A judge needs more yes than no votes to stay (Iowa Code §46.24).
4. How often do Supreme Court justices face retention votes?
Every 8 years
Right. After the first retention vote, justices stand every 8 years and other judges every 6 years.
Never
Not quite. After the first retention vote, justices stand every 8 years and other judges every 6 years.
Every 2 years
Not quite. After the first retention vote, justices stand every 8 years and other judges every 6 years.
5. What happened in Iowa’s 2010 retention election?
Voters removed three Supreme Court justices
Right. Voters removed three justices, including the Chief Justice, after the court’s 2009 Varnum v. Brien ruling on marriage.
Retention votes were abolished
Not quite. Voters removed three justices, including the Chief Justice, after the court’s 2009 Varnum v. Brien ruling on marriage.
Every judge was removed
Not quite. Voters removed three justices, including the Chief Justice, after the court’s 2009 Varnum v. Brien ruling on marriage.
6. What did a 2019 law change about the state nominating commission?
It let voters elect its members
Not quite. Since 2019 the Governor appoints nine members and lawyers elect eight, and members choose their chair.
It gave the Governor’s appointees a majority
Right. Since 2019 the Governor appoints nine members and lawyers elect eight, and members choose their chair.
It abolished the commission
Not quite. Since 2019 the Governor appoints nine members and lawyers elect eight, and members choose their chair.
7. An appeal is filed from district court. Where does it go first?
The U.S. Supreme Court
Not quite. Every appeal is filed with the Supreme Court, which keeps some and transfers most to the Court of Appeals.
The Iowa Supreme Court
Right. Every appeal is filed with the Supreme Court, which keeps some and transfers most to the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals
Not quite. Every appeal is filed with the Supreme Court, which keeps some and transfers most to the Court of Appeals.
8. Who handles traffic tickets and small claims in each county?
Magistrates
Right. Magistrates handle simple misdemeanors, traffic tickets and small claims. They’re appointed for four years and aren’t on the ballot.
The county attorney
Not quite. Magistrates handle simple misdemeanors, traffic tickets and small claims. They’re appointed for four years and aren’t on the ballot.
The Court of Appeals
Not quite. Magistrates handle simple misdemeanors, traffic tickets and small claims. They’re appointed for four years and aren’t on the ballot.
9. What is the Judicial Performance Review?
An official ruling by the Supreme Court
Not quite. It’s the Iowa State Bar Association’s survey of lawyers, published before each retention vote, not an official ruling.
A bar association survey of lawyers about judges
Right. It’s the Iowa State Bar Association’s survey of lawyers, published before each retention vote, not an official ruling.
The Governor’s grade for each judge
Not quite. It’s the Iowa State Bar Association’s survey of lawyers, published before each retention vote, not an official ruling.
10. Who sets the courts’ budget?
The Legislature, in an appropriations bill
Right. The Legislature sets the judicial branch’s budget each year in the justice system appropriations bill.
The Chief Justice alone, with no vote by lawmakers
Not quite. The Legislature sets the judicial branch’s budget each year in the justice system appropriations bill.
Each county
Not quite. The Legislature sets the judicial branch’s budget each year in the justice system appropriations bill.
Next chapter
Code & costs →The Iowa Code a bill would change, fiscal notes and other impact statements.