Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human Services
What's at Stake
On May 31st, 2019, the ACLU of Iowa and National ACLU LGBTQ and HIV Project filed a lawsuit to block implementation of an Iowa law that was recently passed to restore the ban on Medicaid coverage for essential, gender-affirming surgery to transgender Iowans that the Iowa Supreme recently struck down.
Summary
The Iowa Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in Vasquez, ending the long saga of Iowa trying to exclude medically necessary gender-affirming surgery from Medicaid coverage. Previously, we prevailed in Good v. Iowa Dept. of Human Services, our challenge to Iowa’s ban on providing Medicaid coverage to transgender Iowans who need gender-affirming surgery. However, after winning that case under the Iowa Civil Rights Act (“ICRA”), the Iowa legislature amended that Act to take away protections for transgender people from the very kind of discrimination in access to public health care the Iowa Supreme Court had found to violate that statute one month before.
Following procedural appeals, we then challenged the denial of Medicaid coverage to Mika Covington and Aiden Vasquez challenging the amendment to the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA) as well as Iowa’s administrative regulation excluding gender affirming medical care from Medicaid. On August 10, 2022, the district court granted in part and denied in part the state’s motion to dismiss. The court subsequently ruled that Iowa’s regulatory ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery and the amendment of ICRA to exclude gender-affirming surgery violate the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.
Both sides appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court. The State did not appeal the district court’s decision regarding the exclusionary regulation, but did appeal the ICRA ruling. The Iowa Department of Human Services also agreed to cover the plaintiffs’ surgeries under Medicaid. The Iowa Supreme Court found the State’s ICRA appeal to be moot. It also affirmed the district court’s denial of plaintiffs’ request for attorney’s fees.
After so many years trying to access the healthcare that they need and fighting the State’s continuous efforts to deny them that healthcare, we are thrilled that the enforcement of the exclusionary regulation has ceased and that our clients Mika Covington and Aiden Vasquez are able to access care.
Vasquez and Covington are represented by Li Nowlin-Sohl from the National ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project, Rita Bettis Austen and Shefali Aurora from the ACLU of Iowa, and Seth Horvath, Tina B. Solis, and F. Thomas Hecht, Litigation Partners at the Chicago office of Nixon Peabody LLP.
Legal Documents
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05/12/2023
Opinion -
09/06/2022
Appellees/Cross-Appellants' Reply Brief -
08/23/2022
Appellant/Cross-Appellee's Reply Brief -
06/23/2022
Amicus Briefs -
- Amicus Brief of American Medical Association et al.
- Amicus Brief of LGBTQ Organizations
- Amicus Brief of Chicago Lawyers' Committee et al.
- Amicus Brief of Iowa Law Professors
- Amicus Brief of One Iowa
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsAmicus Brief of American Medical Association et al.Date Filed: 06/23/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsAmicus Brief of LGBTQ OrganizationsDate Filed: 06/24/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsAmicus Brief of Chicago Lawyers' Committee et al.Date Filed: 06/24/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsAmicus Brief of Iowa Law ProfessorsDate Filed: 06/24/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsAmicus Brief of One IowaDate Filed: 06/24/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download Document -
06/17/2022
Appellees' Proof Brief -
05/04/2022
Appellant's Proof Brief
Date Filed: 05/12/2023
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 09/06/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 08/23/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 06/17/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 05/04/2022
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download Document-
11/19/2021
Order Denying Motion to Reconsider Ruling on Motion to Dismiss -
11/19/2021
Ruling on Petitioner's Brief on Judicial Review -
08/23/2021
Motion to Reconsider Ruling on Motion to Dismiss -
08/10/2021
Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motion to Dismiss -
07/19/2021
Respondent's Final Brief -
06/18/2021
Petitioner's Brief on Judicial Review -
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08/23/2021
Supplement to Petitioner's Brief on Judicial Review -
08/06/2021
Petitioner's Reply in Support of Brief on Judicial Review
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsSupplement to Petitioner's Brief on Judicial ReviewDate Filed: 08/23/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsPetitioner's Reply in Support of Brief on Judicial ReviewDate Filed: 08/06/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download Document -
08/23/2021
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05/13/2021
Respondent's Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss -
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05/24/2021
Petitioner's Resistance to Motion to Dismiss -
06/03/2021
Respondent's Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsPetitioner's Resistance to Motion to DismissDate Filed: 05/24/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsRespondent's Reply in Support of Motion to DismissDate Filed: 06/03/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download Document -
05/24/2021
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04/22/2021
Petition for Judicial Review
Date Filed: 11/19/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 11/19/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 08/23/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 08/10/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 07/19/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 06/18/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 05/13/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 04/22/2021
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download Document-
08/05/2020
Order Affirming District Court Decision
Date Filed: 08/05/2020
Court: Court of Appeals of Iowa
Download Document-
11/04/2020
Order Denying Further Review -
08/25/2020
Application for Further Review -
08/09/2019
Order Denying Temporary Injunction and Granting Motion to Expediate in Part -
07/19/2019
Brief in Support of Application for Temporary Injunction -
07/19/2019
Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction -
07/19/2019
Motion to Expedite Appeal
Date Filed: 11/04/2020
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 08/09/2019
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 07/19/2019
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 07/19/2019
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download DocumentDate Filed: 07/19/2019
Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
Download Document-
07/18/2019
Notice of Appeal -
07/18/2019
Order -
06/26/2019
Motion to Dismiss -
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07/08/2019
Resistance to Motion to Dismiss
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsResistance to Motion to DismissDate Filed: 07/08/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download Document -
07/08/2019
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05/31/2019
Brief in Support of Motion for Temporary Injunction -
05/31/2019
Petition for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief -
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06/26/2019
Respondents' Resistance to Injunctive Relief -
07/02/2019
Petitioners' Reply
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsRespondents' Resistance to Injunctive ReliefDate Filed: 06/26/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentVasquez v. Iowa Department of Human ServicesLegal DocumentsPetitioners' ReplyDate Filed: 07/02/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download Document -
06/26/2019
Date Filed: 07/18/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 07/18/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 06/26/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 05/31/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download DocumentDate Filed: 05/31/2019
Court: Iowa District Court for Polk County
Download Document