David Hanson Removed

The Iowa Supreme Court permanently removed Fayette County Magistrate David Hanson from the bench, finding him "simply and unalterably unsuited to be a judge" and specifically unable to preside over any proceeding involving sexual assault. The ruling arose from two separate cases. In one, Hanson denied an arrest warrant in a sexual assault case through a lengthy written order laced with his own disparaging views about young male victims of sexual assault. In the other, Hanson used a derogatory racial slur and invoked racial stereotypes about a criminal defendant, on the record, in open court.

At his March 2025 hearing before the Supreme Court, Hanson defended his handling of the sexual assault case by dismissing the victim's account outright: "I honestly thought, 'This is a lie. It reads like bad pornography.' I hate pornography. Pornography is lies … I still, to this day, am convinced that the arrest warrant request, the complaint, was resting on lies." The state's Judicial Qualifications Commission had recommended only a 90-day suspension; the Supreme Court concluded that permanent removal was the only appropriate response.