The Iowa Supreme Court ends its term in June. A big abortion ruling still awaits. What else?

Eight months into the Iowa Supreme Court's 2022-2023 term, the state's highest court has already issued some momentous decisions. But the highest-profile case of the term, on abortion rights, still awaits a ruling, and more legal upheavals could come before the justices hang up their robes at the end of June.

No case has drawn more interest than Planned Parenthood v. Reynolds, the lawsuit that will decide whether Iowa bans abortions in nearly all cases after the sixth week of pregnancy.

"The Planned Parenthood case presents a mix of hot button political questions — the extent to which the Iowa Constitution protects a right to abortion — and highly technical legal procedure issues," Matt McGuire, an attorney at Nyemaster Goode and a contributor to the firm's "On Brief" appellate blog, said in an email. "I could see this appeal being resolved on a number of potential different grounds, and it is difficult to predict based how the justices have voted in past cases relating to abortion."

The court began its adjudicative term on Aug. 30, and since then has repeatedly made headlines: reversing a 2017 decision that had allowed Iowans to sue the state for violations of their constitutional rights, siding with journalists in a public records lawsuit against Gov. Kim Reynolds, and overturning a state law governing utility projects in a decision that led Republicans to refuse to answer questions about other bills during the recent legislative session.

In addition to the scores of cases already heard and decided this term, the court has yet to issue decisions on more than a dozen cases that have already been argued. All will need to be resolved or postponed to the 2023-2024 session by June 30, when this term by law comes to an end.

Here are some of the noteworthy cases still outstanding:

Upcoming Iowa Supreme Court ruling could ban most Iowa abortions

A lower court blocked the so-called heartbeat law, passed in 2018, and the state did not initially appeal. But in 2022, after both Iowa and U.S. Supreme Court rulings striking down prior protections for abortion rights, Reynolds asked the district court to lift its injunction. The court refused, and Reynolds appealed.

At issue in the appeal is the legal standard by which the court should judge abortion restrictions, which was left unsettled by the court last year. Planned Parenthood has also argued it is procedurally improper for the state to try to revive the law now after failing to appeal the original injunction.

Who owns the name on Ruthie's beer?

Iowa's best-selling locally brewed beer is in the middle of a sprawling legal fight that now sits before the Iowa Supreme Court.

Exile Brewing's popular Ruthie's beer is named for Ruthie Bisignano, a 20th-century Des Moines barkeeper who would famously pour and serve pints of beer balanced on her chest. One of her descendants, Frank Bisignano, is suing Exile, alleging the company has wrongly appropriated her image for its branding.

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Part of the case is proceeding in federal court, but the Iowa Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether a probate court erroneously allowed Bisignano to reopen Ruthie's husband's estate and appoint himself as administrator.

Polk County HR Director Jim Nahas appeals firing

Recent years have seen a flurry of litigation between Polk County supervisors and senior employees accusing each other of harassment, defamation and other misconduct. The bitter feuding is making its first appearance before the state Supreme Court with the lawsuit of former human resources director Jim Nahas.

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Nahas was fired in January 2021 after county officials accused him of lying about offensive remarks allegedly made by Supervisor Matt McCoy. In his suit, Nahas claims he was wrongly terminated, and that a subsequent letter released to the media by County Administrator John Norris was false and defamatory.

The county asked the district court to dismiss Nahas' complaint on several bases, which was denied. Now it has asked the Supreme Court to reverse that decision and toss the lawsuit.

Why was DPH spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm canned?

In another government official employment dispute, former Department of Public Health spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm has accused Reynolds and other senior executive branch officials of wrongly firing her in 2020. She alleged she was disciplined for answering public records requests from journalists in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and claimed her firing violates whistleblower protection law.

Attorneys for the state argued that access to public records is not "a well-recognized public policy" that could support a wrongful termination claim. A district court refused to dismiss the lawsuit, and Reynolds has appealed.

Carver-Kim's suit was argued before the court in November, making it the oldest yet-outstanding case on the docket.

What legal experts are watching for

McGuire, the Nyemaster Goode attorney, said a common thread this term has been cases involving civil action against the state. The Planned Parenthood and Carver-Kimm cases are set to continue that trend, he said.

University of Iowa Law Professor Derek Muller also pointed to the Planned Parenthood appeal (in which he filed a brief) as the highest-profile case still outstanding, but said it's also notable that the court has already resolved many of the term's hotly anticipated appeals.

"The court has moved so quickly that it’s already decided some of the bigger cases," Muller said, citing the public records suit filed by journalists and a decision upholding the use of DNA evidence collected from an abandoned drinking straw to solve the 1979 cold-case murder of Cedar Rapids teen Michelle Martinko by Jerry Burns. "The court seems to be issuing decisions more quickly than in years past, so there’s not as much to wait for as the term winds down."

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Supreme Court still to rule on abortion, government firings, beer