Edward Mansfield
Edward Mansfield is a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court in 2011 and retained by voters in 2012. Justice Mansfield previously served as a judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals. He also teaches law at Drake University as an adjunct professor. Justice Mansfield is a graduate of Yale Law School.
—Donald J. Trump Finalizes List of Potential Supreme Court Justice Picks
Gartner v. Dep’t of Public Health
A majority found it unconstitutional for the Iowa Department of Public Health to refuse to list a mother’s same-sex spouse on a child’s birth certificate. Justice Mansfield concurred in judgment but hinted that he might not support the constitutionality of Iowa’s same-sex marriage case.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Iowa Board of Medicine
Justice Mansfield joined the court’s unanimous opinion striking down an Iowa rule that prohibited telemedicine abortions. The rule posed an “undue burden” to access to contraceptive care.
De Stefano v. Apts. Downtown, Inc.
Iowa has long granted tenants a right to expect a rented apartment be fit for human habitation. In De Stefano a majority of the Iowa Supreme Court found that a landlord could not rely on a stock provision in a preliminary lease to bill a tenant for the cost of repairs to make an apartment habitable. Judge Mansfield dissented, reasoning that the lease provision in question explicitly imposed a duty on tenants to pay for repairs that the law “authorized the parties to agree would be the tenant’s responsibility.”
Godfrey v. State of Iowa
A majority of the court found that a former state Workers’ Compensation Commissioner should have been able to sue Iowa Governor Branstad for defamation. Justice Mansfield dissented, disagreeing with the majority’s interpretation of Iowa tort law as it pertained to elected officials acting in their official capacity.