Case docket
The Arc of Iowa v. Reynolds — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 22-3338
The Arc of Iowa v. Reynolds — 3 court filings in the archive from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, filed between March 3, 2023 and June 26, 2023. Among them: 1 memorandum or brief.
Case facts
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit |
|---|---|
| Filings | 3 public filings |
| Filed | 2023-03-03 – 2023-06-26 |
| Document types | memorandum or brief (1) |
| Original PDFs | 3 of 3 |
Case summary
This page holds the three merits briefs in the Eighth Circuit appeal No. 22-3338 in The Arc of Iowa v. Reynolds, taken from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, No. 4:21-cv-00264-RP. The appellants' brief states that the plaintiffs sued Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo and ten school districts, alleging that Iowa Code section 280.31, which allocates authority over school mask mandates to the State, violates title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The district court issued its order on November 1, 2022 granting declaratory judgment, and the Governor and the Director appealed on November 2, 2022. The briefs raise exhaustion under the IDEA, Article III standing and whether declaratory judgment was properly issued. No decision of the court of appeals is on this page.
Case at a glance
| Parties | Plaintiffs-appellees: The Arc of Iowa and others. Defendants-appellants: Kim Reynolds, in her official capacity as Governor of Iowa, and Ann Lebo, in her official capacity as Director of the Iowa Department of Education. Other defendants: Ankeny Community School District and others |
|---|---|
| Court and docket | U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 22-3338, on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, No. 4:21-cv-00264-RP |
| Program | Not named in the filings on this page as a relief program; the claims invoke the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 alongside title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the dispute is over school mask mandates under Iowa Code section 280.31 |
| Claims | That Iowa Code section 280.31 violates title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of section 280.31 so that local schools could impose universal mask mandates |
| Disposition or status | On appeal, undecided on this page. The district court issued its order on November 1, 2022 and the appellants filed a notice of appeal from the order granting declaratory judgment on November 2, 2022. The page carries the appellants' brief of March 3, 2023, the appellees' brief of June 5, 2023 and the appellants' reply brief of June 26, 2023, and no opinion or judgment of the Eighth Circuit |
| Status checked | 2026-09-23 · against DOJ press releases through 2026-09-22; court docket not yet read |
What does the appeal challenge?
A declaratory judgment of the district court defining the scope of Iowa Code section 280.31. The appellants' brief states that the court declared that schools cannot rely solely on section 280.31 in declining to impose a mask mandate as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, and that a mask mandate is a reasonable accommodation.
What issues do the briefs raise?
Three, as the appellants state them: whether the plaintiffs met the exhaustion requirements imposed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, whether the plaintiffs have Article III standing to sue, and whether the district court properly issued declaratory judgment.
What happened earlier in the case?
The appellants' brief records that the district court entered a fourteen-day temporary restraining order from September 13 to September 27, 2021 enjoining the defendants from enforcing section 280.31, extended it for fourteen more days over the State's objection, and issued a preliminary injunction on October 8, 2021 setting aside enforceability of the section, and that the State appealed that injunction, which this court limited.
Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.
Filings
3 public filings from this case, in filing-date order.
Court, dates and docket numbers are as recorded on the filings.