111 Iowa L. Rev. Online 62 (2026)
Abstract
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. It concludes that the drawbacks and inconsistencies of each approach are myriad and are in part a result of the ambivalence American judiciaries seem to feel toward peremptories. This Essay argues that the near impossibility of establishing a coherent system of review for the impairment of the right to peremptory challenges, in light of their negligible value in securing the just resolution of disputes, is yet another reason to eliminate them in most cases.