[2] Justices are appointed by the governor from a list of nominees submitted by the State Judicial Nominating Commission.

A black man from Missouri, Ralph, was allowed to travel to Iowa to work, in an attempt to purchase his freedom.

The opinion denied the slave owner while giving Ralph his freedom, expounding that the law "extend[s] equal protection to men of all colors and conditions".

[9] On April 3, 2009, in Varnum v. Brien,[11] the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down a statutory same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional, joining the highest judicial bodies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, and Hawaii as the fifth court to rule for the right of same-sex marriage under the state constitution.

The opinion, authored by Edward Mansfield, held that the termination of Nelson's employment did not constitute unlawful sex discrimination.

[14][15] The Court heard arguments in a lawsuit brought against the state of Iowa and the Iowa Board of Medicine by Planned Parenthood and Dr. Jill Meadows regarding a 72-hour waiting period to receive an abortion enacted by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Terry Branstad in 2017.

The Court decided in a 5-2 majority opinion, authored by Chief Justice Mark Cady, that the waiting period violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Iowa Constitution because its restrictions "are not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest of the state."

[16] In June 2022, the Court, in a 5–2 vote, found that the Iowa Constitution did not protect a right to an abortion, overruling its 2018 decision.