New immigration law blocked, new Iowa poll, new Congressional candidates
June 17 "Capitol Week" is online
I’m trying something new with this post by putting the audio from our radio show at the top, instead of in the middle of the text. For those who listen to the show instead of reading my recaps, does this make it easier for you? Or does it make no difference where the audio file is embedded in this post?
Another question: a growing number of Substack authors are recording voiceovers of their written posts, to make them more accessible to people with low vision, and more convenient for those who don’t always have time to read.
Would you like to have the option of listening to a piece like “Iowa restaurant lobby plays stupid games, wins stupid prizes” or “Meet the woman who could be Iowa's first trans legislator” while doing something else (walking, driving, cooking)? If there is enough interest, I will experiment with reading my posts that aren’t about “KHOI’s Capitol Week.”
On to the main attraction. Spencer Dirks and I had a packed format for the June 17 program, and managed to fit it all in!
You can subscribe to the show on any podcast platform by searching for “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” The full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.
The audio from our June 17 program is at the top of this email. Here’s what we covered:
We began with breaking news: U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher issued an order on Monday afternoon blocking the state from enforcing the immigration law known as Senate File 2340. That was only a week after he heard arguments, which Spencer and I discussed on last week’s show. You can read the judge’s order granting a preliminary injunction here;
Judge Locher ruled simultaneously on separate lawsuits filed by the federal government and private plaintiffs (the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and two Iowa residents who would be subject to prosecution under SF 2340). They made similar arguments: the state law is preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, because the federal government has exclusive authority to regulate immigration;
After last week’s hearing, Emma Winger of the American Immigration Council gave a brief statement and answered reporters’ questions. She explained the legal issues well in layman’s terms, so click those links if you would like to watch the videos I uploaded to YouTube;
Attorney General Brenna Bird and Governor Kim Reynolds both criticized Judge Locher’s decision and confirmed the state will appeal. Spencer and I read excerpts from the written statements they released Monday afternoon;
The decision means Iowa won’t be able to enforce the law on its effective date of July 1. It’s not clear when the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the state’s appeal or how quickly the appeals court will rule;
Attorneys for the private plaintiffs welcomed Judge Locher’s decision, saying the court “was right to block this cruel and blatantly unconstitutional law”;
Sticking with federal court news: last Tuesday, I listened to the Eighth Circuit panel hearing related to Senate File 496, the wide-ranging education law Republicans enacted last year. In December, Judge Locher issued an injunction blocking Iowa from enforcing two parts of that law: school book bans in grades K-12, and restrictions on teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation in grades K-6. The state argued that the law doesn’t violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and should be allowed to enforce it;
Regarding the book ban, the state’s attorney argued that plaintiffs shouldn’t be challenging the law as a whole. They should be suing the school districts that removed certain books. Solicitor General Eric Wessan also claimed that library collections are a form of “government speech” and therefore don’t implicate the First Amendment. As I discussed in this post from December, that argument was not convincing;
It’s usually not advisable to guess how a court will rule based on oral arguments. But at least one judge on the Eighth Circuit panel, Judge James Loken, sounded very sympathetic to the state’s arguments. The other judges didn’t speak as much, but I came away with the impression that the appeals court may reverse the injunction;
As for the other challenged part of the law, which some people call “don’t say gay or trans,” the lower court had ruled that a ban on any discussion relating to gender identity or sexual orientation was overbroad and vague, and would cover almost any kind of discussion, not just LGBTQ topics. The state’s attorney argued that courts should not interpret a law to have an absurd result;
We don’t know when the Eighth Circuit will issue a ruling. There’s no deadline;
Earlier this month, the Des Moines Register published some fantastic reporting about how many books have been removed from school libraries and classrooms, and what kinds of titles have been most often pulled from the shelves. Highly recommend the series;
Speaking of the Des Moines Register, on Monday morning the paper published the first findings from Ann Selzer’s latest Iowa Poll on the presidential race. It’s a grim picture for Joe Biden and Democrats;
I explained why it matters for down-ballot candidates whether Donald Trump carries Iowa by 8 points (as he did in 2020) or by 18 points (his lead in the current Selzer poll). I do think Robert F. Kennedy Jr and other third-party candidates won’t gain as many votes as this poll indicates, so Biden has a chance to close the gap. But his approval rating is very low by historical standards;
Moving to other election news: the Libertarian Party nominated candidates in the first, third, and fourth Congressional districts. This could be important, and I suspect Republican strategists will be worried. I wrote more about this angle at Bleeding Heartland on Sunday morning, when Marco Battaglia (a past Libertarian nominee for attorney general and lieutenant governor) formally announced his candidacy in IA-03;
The Iowa Democratic Party held its state convention on June 15. Democratic candidates plan to focus mainly on education issues and abortion;
I went to Senator Joni Ernst’s town hall meeting in Winterset on Friday morning and had a chance to ask her one question. To my surprise, she told me Trump privately supports continuing U.S. military aid to Ukraine;
During the town hall, Ernst indicated that she doesn’t expect Congress to approve a new Farm Bill this year. She said Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow is content with extending the 2018 Farm Bill for another year;
Ernst also criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for setting a very light schedule for legislative work. She claimed that’s because Democrats have many tough re-election races, and Schumer wants his colleagues to have plenty of time to campaign in their home states;
While the Senate was working last week, Senators Ernst and Chuck Grassley filibustered a Democratic bill guaranteeing access to in vitro fertilization. Republicans say the bill is unnecessary, because IVF is already available in all 50 states;
Ernst criticized what she called a “summer of scare tactics” about IVF. But there are real differences between the Democratic bill and the Republican alternative on IVF;
We touched on Iowa political reaction to the Delaware jury finding Hunter Biden guilty last week. Caleb McCullough wrote a good roundup for Lee Newspapers, which I had to rely on because Senator Grassley’s staff never allow me to participate in his conference calls with some Iowa reporters;
Moving to state government news, last week the Iowa Board of Regents approved another tuition increase for all three state universities;
I had fun writing about a weird legislative story last week: Why Iowa’s governor had to sign one bill twice. Several people who have worked in or around the legislature for decades told me they’ve never seen anything like it;
Finally, Spencer and I discussed some good reporting by Kevin Baskins for the Des Moines Register about Iowa restaurants facing big fines for violating federal child labor law. The restaurant owners thought they were in the clear because they were following Iowa’s new state law on working hours for 14- and 15-year-olds. We need to avoid editorializing on the show because of KHOI’s non-commercial license. But I had much more to say about this debacle at Bleeding Heartland: Iowa restaurant lobby plays stupid games, wins stupid prizes.
Thanks so much for reading or listening!
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I’m very interested in audio voiceovers of content.
I do like the audio at the top of the post. Thanks!