State that enumerated constitutional liberties provide a basis for the courts to fashion remedies for their infringement. The court noted that a constitutional reference to the duty of the Legislature could not be interpreted as a derogation of the judicial power. In 2017, the Iowa Supreme Court filled a longstanding void in legislation by ruling in Godfrey v. The fact that a right is identified in the Constitution does not place it outside the authority of the judiciary to adjudicate remedies for wrongs in the common law tradition. The rich history of the judiciary reveals that fashioning of remedies for identified rights has been a fundamental function of the courts since their inception. The judicial power is not defined, and its meaning is therefore found within the history of the English and American courts. It commands that body legislate appropriately, but the Constitution goes on in Article V, Section 1 to provide for the judicial power, which is concurrent with the legislative power. Second, it said that sovereign immunity demands this interpretation.Īrticle XII, Section 1 states in pertinent part: "The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry this constitution into effect." This is not a grant of exclusive jurisdiction to the legislative branch. First, the high court interpreted the second sentence of Article XII, Section 1 of the Iowa Constitution as granting the Legislature exclusive right to establish law - at least with respect to constitutional rights and mandates. The court’s analysis turns upon two legal propositions. The point should be well taken by all Iowans, but the details of the court’s analysis reveal something more troubling. The initial take among civil rights attorneys has been the complaint that the decision runs counter to the legal maxim that whenever there exists a right, there exists a remedy - in as much as no right can be said to exist, if there exists no remedy.
The court reasoned that while Article I of the Iowa Constitution protects citizens from arbitrary restraint under Section 1 and from unreasonable seizure under Section 8, no remedy has been provided within the constitution or by the Iowa Legislature. Smith, handed down May 5, the court ruled that a person who had been subjected to false arrest cannot sue the state for damages because the Iowa Legislature has not enacted a law permitting such legal action. As with most things in the law, the devil is in the details with the recent decision of the Iowa Supreme Court blocking civil lawsuits for damages based upon a violation of Iowa’s constitutionally enumerated civil rights.
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