Recent Print Edition:

Recent Print Edition:

Articles

Articles

Volume 109, Issue 1

Representative Rulemaking

Jim Rossi & Kevin M. Stack

The dominant form of lawmaking in the United States today—notice-and-comment rulemaking—is not a representative process. Notice-and-comment simply invites public participation, leaving the overall balance of engagement with the proposed regulations to the choices of individuals, public interest groups, trade groups, and regulated businesses. . . . 

Continue Reading

From Cannabis to Crypto: Federal Reserve Discretion in Payments

Julie Andersen Hill

From its inception, the Federal Reserve has operated payment systems that let banks move money for their customers. Checks, wire transfers, and electronic consumer payments all happen thanks to the Federal Reserve. Congress by statute specified which banks get access to the Fed’s payment services. . . . 

Continue Reading

Defining Health Affordability

Govind Persad

Affordable health care, insurance, and prescription drugs are priorities for the public and for policymakers. Yet the lack of a consensus definition of health affordability is increasingly recognized as a roadblock to health reform efforts. This Article explains how and why American health law invokes health affordability and attempts, or fails, to define the concept. . . .

Continue Reading

Historical Kinship & Categorical Mischief: The Use and Misuse of Doctrinal Borrowing in Intellectual Property Law

Mark Bartholomew & John Tehranian

Analogies are ubiquitous in legal reasoning, and, in copyright jurisprudence, courts frequently turn to patent law for guidance. From introducing doctrines meant to regulate online intermediaries to evaluating the constitutionality of resurrecting copyrights to works from the public domain, judges turn to patent law analogies to lend ballast to their decisions. . . .

Continue Reading

Evidence Law’s Blind Spots

James A. Macleod

Evidence law is about information disclosure: what should we tell the jury, and what should we hide from it? Under the narrow, traditional vision of evidence law, judges consider whether providing the jury a given piece of information would “unfairly prejudice” a party, preventing a “just determination” of the case at hand. . . . 

Continue Reading

The New Standing Problem and Its Legislative Solution

Jonathan R. Siegel

Recent Supreme Court decisions have tightened standing doctrine. These decisions endanger innumerable statutes that allow for “statutory damages,” i.e., damages in a fixed amount that a plaintiff may recover without proving actual damages. This Article explores how Congress could use a device known as a “qui tam action” to provide plaintiffs with the equivalent of statutory damages in cases that would be barred by the Supreme Court’s new standing restrictions. . . .

Continue Reading

Notes

Student Notes

Volume 109, Issue 1

Pills, Bills, and Capitol Hill: Reevaluating the Prescription Drug “Rebate Rule” in Light of the Inflation Reduction Act

Lindsey J. Gilberg

In 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services promulgated a rule modifying an antikickback safe harbor for Medicare prescription drug rebates. This Note argues that this rule should be reconsidered following the Inflation Reduction Act’s advancements in reforming Medicare drug prices. First, this Note discusses the role of rebates in the prescription drug delivery system and explores the development and finalization of the rule. . . .

Continue Reading

Derechos, Tornadoes, and Cyclones, Oh My: How Iowa Can Reform Assignment of Benefits Law in Property Insurance

Quinton T. McNitt

Assignment of Benefits (“AOB”) abuse has proliferated throughout the Florida property insurance market, contributing to excessive litigation, insurance company insolvencies, and higher premiums for insureds. The issue became so severe that the Florida legislature recently prohibited the practice of assigning property insurance benefits. This problem has been exacerbated in Florida by environmental, legislative, and judicial conditions, but AOB abuse across the country is a growing concern that cannot be ignored. . . .

Continue Reading

Cultural Considerations and Capabilities of the Habitual State: American Jurisprudence Fails to Protect Victims in International

Elena J. Hildebrandt

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction aims to protect children from international abduction and establish uniform procedures to ensure prompt return to their habitual country. The Convention requires judges to weigh the divergent goals of protecting children and respecting state sovereignty when the taking-parent alleges grave risk to the child. . . .

Continue Reading

Avoid a Fight Over Blood Money: The Iowa Legislature Should Take Action to Amend Its Slayer Statute to Ensure that Even the Insa

Natalie J. Risse

Almost every state has a slayer statute which prevents a killer from benefiting from the estate of their victim as an heir, an insurance beneficiary, or a joint tenant. However, very few of these slayer statutes address the problem that arises when the slayer has been determined to be legally insane. In the absence of legislative guidance, courts facing this problem have developed multiple different approaches to address this issue. . . .

Continue Reading

Recent Online Edition:

Recent Online Edition:

A Response to Professor Choi’s Beyond Purposivism in Tax Law

Reuven Avi-Yonah
108 Iowa L. Rev. Online 69 (2023)

This Response to Professor Choi’s excellent Article questions whether the proposals made by the Article can solve the tax shelter problem and argues that a better response is to bolster purposivism with a statutory general anti-abuse rule (“GAAR”). . . .

Continue Reading

Legacy and Accountability

Ian Ayres
108 Iowa L. Rev. Online 1 (2022)

This Essay considers the ways that the law can help or hinder the accountability of actors and institutions. It draws two implications from the failure of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire at a time that would have better secured the constitutional right to abortion. . . .

Continue Reading

A Response to Rules of Medical Necessity

Brendan S. Maher
108 Iowa L. Rev. Online 36 (2023)

Professors Monahan and Schwarcz’s recent Article in the Iowa Law ReviewRules of Medical Necessity, is a must-read for multiple audiences. In this short Response, I informally describe health insurance, and—using that perspective—describe and comment on why Rules of Medical Necessity is a piece of work that not only deserves attention from experts in the field, but is also one that casual readers should choose first when attempting to understand how health insurance works in theory and practice.

Continue Reading

Thompson v. Trump: Lost in the Funhouse of Brandenburg

Jay Sterling Silver
107 Iowa L. Rev. Online 151 (2022)

D.C. Circuit Court Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling in Thompson v. Trump denying immunity to ex-President Donald Trump in actions brought against him by a variety of plaintiffs for inciting the January 6th insurrection offered a moment of relief to the left side of the Great Partisan Divide in these dark times. Mr. Trump could finally be held responsible for a bit of the havoc he wreaked. . . .

Continue Reading

Connect with Us on Social Media

Connect with Us on Social Media