State v. Bell

I respectfully dissent.

What is rational? Is its meaning only in the eye of the beholder? Do its boundaries flex with the exigencies of the case before us? These questions naturally come from an examination of the constitutional requirements in assessing the legality of legislation. From that assessment, I conclude that “rational” is not a plastic concept that readily yields to individual predispositions. Rather, it is a firm guide that must be protected, rooted as it is in the Due Process Clauses of the United States and Iowa Constitutions.

In 1996 the Iowa legislature, in its laudable attempt…