Ask Iowa law a question.Get an answer you can cite.

The manual task

A first OWI arrest where the client wants to know exactly what happens if there is another one down the road.

What you ask

“At what blood alcohol level does Iowa charge OWI, and how does the penalty change with prior convictions?”

What you actually get back

• Iowa Code § 321J.2(1): OWI applies at a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or more, or while under the influence, or with any controlled substance present
• Iowa Code § 321J.2(2): a first offense is a serious misdemeanor, a second offense an aggravated misdemeanor, a third and each later offense a class D felony
• Iowa Code § 321J.2(3): a first offense carries a mandatory minimum of 48 hours in county jail
• State v. Casper (Iowa 2020): one of 798 Iowa cases citing this section

Real output from one query against the Iowa Code, cross-referenced against the Iowa cases that apply it.

The manual task

A client just received an adverse final judgment and needs the exact filing deadline, including whether it is shorter for a case involving a child.

What you ask

“How many days does a party have to file a notice of appeal from a final judgment in Iowa, and is that deadline shorter for a termination of parental rights case?”

What you actually get back

• Iowa Ct. R. 6.101(1)(b): a notice of appeal must be filed in district court, with an informational copy to the supreme court, within 30 days after the final order or judgment
• Iowa Ct. R. 6.101(1)(a): for termination of parental rights and child in need of assistance cases under Iowa Code chapter 232, the deadline shortens to 15 days
• In the Interest of K.C., Minor Child (Iowa Ct. App. 2021): one of 180 Iowa cases citing this rule, in a chapter 232 case

Real output from one query against the Iowa Court Rules, a corpus separate from the Code and the case law here.

The manual task

A real estate broker license comes up for renewal and the broker wants the exact continuing education requirement, not a guess.

What you ask

“How many hours of continuing education must an Iowa real estate broker complete to renew an active license?”

What you actually get back

• Iowa Admin. Code r. 481, 2003.4(1): a broker or broker associate completes a minimum of 36 hours of approved continuing education to renew in active status
• Iowa Admin. Code r. 481, 2003.4(2): that total breaks down into 8 hours of law update, 4 hours of ethics, and 24 hours of electives
• Iowa Admin. Code r. 481, 2003.4(1): a broker who completes hours beyond the requirement can carry up to 18 hours, 50 percent of the required 36, into the next renewal period

Real output from one query against the Iowa Administrative Code, the state regulatory corpus, separate from the Code and case law above.

The manual task

A school administrator wants to know whether a law that just passed this year changes which students can play on the high school team.

What you ask

“Does a new 2026 Iowa law let eighth grade students participate in high school interscholastic athletics?”

What you actually get back

• 2026 Iowa Acts ch. 1178, section 1: amends Iowa Code § 256.7 to let students enrolled in grade eight participate in any extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest a school district, nonpublic school, or charter school offers, on the same basis as other enrolled students
• 2026 Iowa Acts ch. 1178, section 6: this amendment to § 256.7 takes effect immediately upon enactment, not on the standard July 1 effective date

Real output from one query against the 2026 Iowa Acts, the session laws not yet folded into the codified Iowa Code.

The manual task

A city is defending a federal excessive force lawsuit after an officer struck a driver while pulling him from his truck during a chaotic traffic stop.

What you ask

“Is a police officer entitled to qualified immunity for striking a noncompliant driver while removing him from a vehicle during a Fourth Amendment excessive force claim?”

What you actually get back

• Wertish v. Krueger, 433 F.3d 1062 (8th Cir. 2006): the 8th Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the officer, holding the force used, including striking the driver while pulling him from the truck, was constitutionally reasonable
• Wertish v. Krueger, 433 F.3d 1062 (8th Cir. 2006): the court measured reasonableness from the officer’s perspective at the time, not with the hindsight that the driver’s noncompliance had a medical cause
• Daniels v. Tyler (N.D. Iowa): a second excessive force claim from the federal district court that actually sits over Iowa

Real output from one query against the federal courts that govern Iowa, the 8th Circuit plus the Northern and Southern District of Iowa, in the same graph as the Iowa case law here.

The manual task

An Iowa appeal argues the trial judge should have recused for remembering the defendant’s past record, a question no keyword search over Iowa cases alone will resolve.

What you ask

“Must an Iowa trial judge recuse because the judge remembers a defendant’s past record from an earlier case?”

What you actually get back

• State v. Smith, 282 N.W.2d 138 (Iowa 1979): the Iowa Supreme Court held that a judge’s bias must come from an extrajudicial source, not from what the judge learned while presiding, and denied recusal
• Barry v. Sigler, 373 F.2d 835 (8th Cir. 1967): reached by the citator from State v. Smith: familiarity with a litigant’s prior legal difficulties is not disqualifying
• Hodgdon v. United States, 365 F.2d 679 (8th Cir. 1966): a second precedent from the same citation graph: a litigant’s own prior attempts to sue the trial judge do not disqualify the judge
• Cox v. United States, 309 F.2d 614 (8th Cir. 1962): a third: a judge’s memory of sentencing the defendant in an earlier case does not require recusal

Not a keyword search. This is the citator: ask for the precedents behind State v. Smith and it follows the real citation graph from the Iowa Supreme Court to three 8th Circuit opinions, tagged not analyzed since the treatment model covers Iowa only pairs.