Justice provides primer on independent agencies

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted June 16, 2021 11:52 AM

Providing a primer on the history of independent administrative agencies, Iowa Supreme Court Justice Brent R. Appel dissented from a ruling that approved a mayor’s decision to fire every member of the local civil rights commission — without cause — when he found out they intended to sue the city. A state law required the municipality to have an “independent” civil rights agency, and Appel denounced the majority decision as being “untethered from the history of the development of independent agencies and the historic …

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