Recent Print Edition:
Recent Print Edition:
Articles
Articles
Volume 111, Issue 3
Lessons from the States for Promoting Procedural Regularity in U.S. Supreme Court Justice Recusals
Richard J. Lazarus
Public faith in the U.S. Supreme Court is plummeting and one of the major reasons has been the stumbling way that individual Justices in recent years have handled requests that, because of the appearance of bias, they should recuse themselves from participating in a series of high-profile cases before the Court. The Court’s November 2023 inaugural publication of a written substantive code of ethics on when recusal is warranted is plainly an important, though limited, step in the right direction. . . .
Disentangling Safety and Accountability in Criminal Justice Policy
Benjamin Levin
In this Article, I argue that the U.S. criminal system and debates about criminal justice reform reflect an elision of two largely distinct social functions: ensuring public safety and imposing accountability for harmful conduct. Despite deep disagreement about the specifics, most commentators seem to accept that these are both important social functions. . . .
The First Branch: How Congress Manipulates Judicial Review of Administrative Action
Jennifer L. Selin & Pamela J. Clouser McCann
The text of the U.S. Constitution is a result of a political compromise that granted Congress the authority to define the jurisdiction of all inferior federal courts and the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Although important scholarship has explored the parameters under which Congress may exercise this authority, few studies have examined congressional use of federal jurisdiction-stripping provisions as part of a larger statutory framework designed to control the administrative state. . . .
Criminalization of Stillbirth
Jill Wieber Lens
Increasingly, pregnancy loss, especially stillbirth, is ending with arrest. Anticriminalization efforts are often focused on repealing the “fetal personhood” laws that encouraged or enabled the arrests. . . .
When Climate Change Forces Flight: Legal Duties in the Age of Retreat
Mark Nevitt
In the face of climate-driven disasters, government officials and individuals alike must decide whether to invest in climate-exposed areas or retreat. This Article analyzes emerging legal and policy issues associated with both climate retreat (when the government relocates people and infrastructure away from climate-exposed areas) and abandonment (when individuals leave climate-exposed areas, following natural disasters or otherwise). . . .
Off-Label Inducement
David A. Simon
Manufacturers that promote unapproved “off-label” uses of their drugs and devices can cause harm to patients by encouraging providers to prescribe these products unsafely. Examples of this phenomenon are increasingly in the news, as patients injured by off-label uses of drugs like Botox sue manufacturers that promote them. . . .
Notes
Student Notes
Volume 111, Issue 3
Fielding the Truth: Iowa’s Ag-Gag Laws and the Sowing of Silence
Annie R. Colwell
This Note discusses Iowa Code sections 717A.3B and 727.8A, which limit false statements made to obtain videos of, employment at, and access to animal agriculture facilities. These laws, often called “ag-gag” laws, provide civil and criminal penalties for obtaining pictures, videos, and other media inside of animal agriculture facilities and have caused a federal circuit split when assessing their constitutionality under the First Amendment. . . .
Prison Break: Compassionate Release for Iowa’s Growing Older Adult Prison Population
Laura K. Ownby
Iowa’s prison system desperately needs intervention. The population of older adults in Iowa’s prisons is growing at a rapid rate and threatens to overwhelm the system unless there is a solution. . . .
A Harmful Law: How Iowa’s Drug Paraphernalia Law Is Stymieing Harm Reduction Efforts
Thomas A. Panther
Syringe service programs (“SSPs”) and drug-checking equipment such as fentanyl test strips are powerful tools to respond to the opioid epidemic. SSPs distribute sterile needles and other harm reduction supplies to decrease the spread of diseases. They also offer linkages to treatment facilities. Drug-checking equipment allows people to know whether a substance is adulterated with potent substances, such as fentanyl. Under Iowa’s drug paraphernalia law, Iowa Code section 124.414, both SSPs and drug-checking equipment are prohibited. This Note argues that Iowa should amend its drug paraphernalia law to expressly allow SSPs and drug-checking equipment. This Note also argues that Iowa should fund these harm reduction resources and proactively lower barriers to accessing them.
Recent Online Edition:
Recent Online Edition:
Essays & Responses
Volume 111
Response: Taxing Nannies
Deanna S. Newton
111 Iowa L. Rev. Online 28 (2025)
In Taxing Nannies, the authors Kleiman, Sarkar, and Satterwhite initiate an important conversation about the nanny tax by analyzing the preferences and perspectives of nannies themselves. Given current economic and immigration challenges, Taxing Nannies is a timely article. While the authors suggest that they are starting the conversation, this article accomplishes more than that. The authors combine survey data with a Reddit analysis and expert interviews to glean nannies’ preferences through multiple perspectives while offering in-depth analysis and practical solutions. This Response discusses the authors’ key findings, proposals, and broader implications for undocumented workers.
The Bulletin
Peremptory Challenges on Appeal: Not Worth the Trouble
Samuel R. Reynoldson
111 Iowa L. Rev. Online 62 (2026)
This Essay argues that Iowa should eliminate peremptory challenges in jury selection in almost every type of case. While there are several good arguments in favor of elimination, and a few in favor of preservation, this Essay adds a novel argument to the mix: that the difficulty of dealing with errors involving peremptory challenges on appeal is another good reason to eliminate them. This Essay examines three major approaches to the issue, specifically of how to treat, on appeal, a lower court’s erroneous failure to remove a veniremember for cause, when the same veniremember was removed by the exercise of one of the appellant’s peremptory challenges. . . .