A big weekend for Ron DeSantis and several major court rulings

May 15 "Capitol Week" is online

May 17, 2023

After Dennis and I did the show Monday evening, I wanted to finish a post about the earmarks Iowa’s members of Congress requested this year. I spent much of Tuesday trying (mostly without success) to get answers from various state agencies.

So a bit later than usual, here’s our May 15 edition of “Capitol Week.”

Remember, you can find all past episodes (we’re up to 120 now!) on KHOI Radio’s website.

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For the first time in months, Dennis and I didn’t spend most of the program talking about legislative affairs.

Donald Trump canceled a planned rally in Des Moines on Saturday; some questioned whether the tornado watch was the real reason.
We spent a few minutes talking about the civil jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and CNN’s journalistically questionable decision to hold a live town hall with an audience full of Trump supporters.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had a very strong weekend in Iowa. At Bleeding Heartland, I wrote a deep dive about the new DeSantis endorsements, which eclipse what any other GOP presidential candidate was able to accomplish here in recent memory. I’m not convinced DeSantis can beat Trump here, but I do think he’s largely succeeded in making this a two-person race for the nomination;
DeSantis even showed up Trump by making an unscheduled trip to Des Moines after the former president canceled;
Vivek Ramaswamy followed a tried-and-true path for long shot presidential candidates last week, floating a gimmicky idea (raising the voting age) to generate some media attention;
For the first time—and possibly the last time—Dennis and discussed a new long shot contender for the GOP nomination, Ryan Binkley;
Nikki Haley and Mike Pence are coming back to Iowa soon as guests at Senator Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” fundraiser; Dennis and I both struggle to see a path for either of them. Of the 98 Republicans currently serving in the Iowa legislature, 55 have already endorsed either DeSantis or Trump;
As talks on raising the debt limit continue to stall, U.S. Representative Zach Nunn has introduced a bill to “allow the federal government to continue on-time payments for Social Security, Medicare, active duty military pay and veteran’s disability benefits if the U.S. were to default”;
Governor Kim Reynolds has a few more weeks to sign or veto the final bills sent to her this year;
The governor praised the legislature’s work last week, but during an appearance on the Iowa PBS show “Iowa Press” she made clear that she wants to revisit a few issues next year, including behind-the-counter birth control;
Two Iowans filed a lawsuit against Reynolds and Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend for the decision two years ago to end Iowa’s participation in special pandemic-related unemployment programs; they are hoping to make it a class action suit;
On Friday the Iowa Supreme Court released its ruling on a case I’ve been following for years, stemming from the 2019 law that discriminates against transgender Iowans on Medicaid. I discussed this decision in more depth at Bleeding Heartland; the court sidestepped the main constitutional issues;
Earlier this month, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed an important precedent known as Godfrey in a case called Burnett; William Morris covered that decision for the Des Moines Register; the upshot is that it just became much harder for Iowans to go to court over violations of their constitutional rights;
A Clay County District Court ruled earlier this month that Iowa’s law giving pipeline companies access to private land for surveys is unconstitutional. Jared Strong covered the case for Iowa Capital Dispatch; no doubt the issue will eventually be decided by the Iowa Supreme Court, because other judges have seen the same issue differently. Here’s more background on the 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision that influenced the ruling from Clay County;
In a big disappointment for leading Iowa politicians, last week the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed pork producers’ challenge to the California animal welfare law known as Proposition 12.

Here’s a bit of legal news Dennis and I didn’t have time to discuss: last week the Iowa Freedom of Information Council “sued the Centerville school board, challenging the legality of its closed meeting in February that ended a two-month suspension of the Centerville High School guidance counselor and baseball coach.” Randy Evans wrote about that case at Bleeding Heartland. And if you want to receive occasional emails linking to all recent commentary on my main website, subscribe to my other free newsletter.

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