The need for pro bono services is as urgent today as it has been over the centuries. The Iowa Access to Justice Commission 2019 Report highlights the need for pro bono services in Iowa, noting that The Iowa State Bar Association reported that in 2015 “more than one million Iowans have difficulty affording an attorney to handle basic legal needs.”
Eleven Iowans have applied with the State Judicial Nominating Commission to fill the vacancy on the Iowa Court of Appeals that will occur when Judge Amanda Potterfield retires December 25, 2019.
Des Moines, October 10, 2019—The Iowa Court of Appeals has elected Judge Thomas N. Bower, Cedar Falls, as chief judge. Judge Bower has served on the court of appeals since 2012. He is the tenth chief judge since the state legislature established the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1976. He replaces Chief Judge Gayle Nelson Vogel, recently retired.
On Thursday, October 17, 2019, at 3:00 p.m., Governor Kim Reynolds will administer the oath of office to Iowa Court of Appeals Judge Julie A. Schumacher in a public ceremony in the Iowa Supreme Court Courtroom at the Iowa Judicial Building located at 1111 E. Court Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50319.
Thank you for asking us to appear before this Senate Oversight Committee this morning. We will provide you with all the information we can to assist you in your work and will cooperate with you fully.
I want to begin with an apology, to you and to everyone for diminishing public trust and confidence in the court system. As the leader of the judicial branch, I take full responsibility, just as I take responsibility to repair the damage and rebuild trust. In our efforts to fulfill our duty to protect confidential information of Iowans from cyberattack, mistakes were made. We are doing everything possible to correct those mistakes, be accountable for the mistakes, and to make sure they never, ever occur again.
In the end, I hope we will not be judged as much by the mistakes made, but by the character we display in accepting responsibility and correcting them. We want to work with you and others to protect Iowan’s personal information, be better than before and for our relationship with our county partners to be stronger than ever.
The Iowa Supreme Court has hired the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels to conduct an independent investigation into the September 11, 2019, arrest in the Dallas County Courthouse of two individuals and the September 9, 2019, alleged break-in at the Polk County Courthouse. Both events appear to have happened during security testing exercises to help the Iowa Judicial Branch ensure the court’s highly sensitive data was secured against attack.
The proposed State and District Judicial Nominating Commissions Uniform Rules of Procedure is posted on the Iowa Judicial Branch website and on the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commission website for a period of thirty days before formally adopted by the State Judicial Nominating Commission (SJNC). The public may provide comments to the proposed State and District Judicial Nominating Commissions Uniform Rules of Procedure via email to the SJNC at sjnc@iowa.gov.
Des Moines, September 17, 2019— The State Judicial Nominating Commission, which is responsible for selecting nominees for appointment to the Iowa Court of Appeals, announced today it will begin accepting applications for the vacancy that will occur when Judge Amanda Potterfield retires December 25, 2019. The Commission received notice of the vacancy from Governor Reynolds on September 3, 2019. The Commission has sixty days to send a slate of nominees to the Governor, who makes appointments to the court.
The Constitution of the United States was ratified on September 17, 1787. In 1911, the State of Iowa was the first state to celebrate Constitution Day. To celebrate the week of Constitution Day, the Iowa Judicial Branch will join the Iowa Department of Education and The Iowa State Bar Association to present a Constitution Day program for Iowa high school students on Wednesday, September 18, in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Judicial Branch Building in Des Moines.
On Constitution Day, Tuesday, September 17, the Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments at the Des Moines North High School auditorium, 501 Holcomb Avenue. The oral arguments are open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. A public reception with the supreme court justices will follow the oral arguments in the auditorium lobby.