Opinion ID: 1620610
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Iowa Constitution Article I, Section 25 (Unenumerated Rights)[17]and Article I, Section 1 (Inalienable Rights).[18]

Text: Petitioners' claims that Iowa Constitution article I, section 25, the unenumerated rights clause, and Iowa Constitution article I, section 1, the inalienable rights clause, entitle them to bail fail for essentially the same reason. Both the inalienable rights clause and the unenumerated rights clause secure to the people of Iowa common law rights that pre-existed Iowa's Constitution. See Gacke v. Pork Xtra, L.L.C., 684 N.W.2d 168, 176 (Iowa 2004) (citing May's Drug Stores v. State Tax Comm'n, 242 Iowa 319, 329, 45 N.W.2d 245, 250 (1950)) (We have held [the inalienable rights clause] was intended to secure citizens' pre-existing common law rights (sometimes known as `natural rights') from unwarranted government restrictions.); State ex rel. Burlington & Mo. River R.R. v. County of Wapello, 13 Iowa 388, 412 (1862) (concluding that the purpose of the unenumerated rights clause is to bring . . . unenumerated rights retained by the people, founded equally . . . upon natural justice and common reason . . . within the censorship of courts of justice . . . when . . . [the rights are] assailed). To resolve this case, however, we need not determine whether a common law right to bail in civil commitment proceedings pre-existed the Constitution, as the petitioners urge us to do. Even if the right to bail in civil commitment proceedings pre-existed the Constitution and consequently falls within the ambit of the protections afforded by the unenumerated rights and inalienable rights clauses, the SVP statute is reasonable and, thus, constitutional. It is well-established that the protections of Iowa's inalienable rights clause are not absolute. See Gacke, 684 N.W.2d at 176. The clause does not prevent all legislative action taken pursuant to the police power that benefits the community and impacts an inalienable right (i.e. a common law or natural right). See id. Instead, it prevents only arbitrary, unreasonable legislative action that impacts an inalienable right. See id. (citing Gibb v. Hansen, 286 N.W.2d 180, 186 (Iowa 1979); May's Drug Stores, 242 Iowa at 329, 45 N.W.2d at 250; Benschoter v. Hakes, 232 Iowa 1354, 1361, 8 N.W.2d 481, 485 (1943); State v. Osborne, 171 Iowa 678, 693, 154 N.W. 294, 300 (1915)). We find that the unenumerated rights clause similarly prohibits not all legislative action, but instead only unreasonable action. The petitioners root their argument that the unenumerated rights clause entitles them to bail in the assumption that unenumerated rights are absolute and may not be the subject of legislative action, even if reasonable. This interpretation of the unenumerated rights clause would effectively disallow all legislative action as to all unenumerated rights. Such an interpretation of the unenumerated rights clause would substantially limit the power of the legislature to enact laws, such as the SVP statute, that protect the public. Moreover, we have previously recognized that the unenumerated rights clause limits, not eliminates, the State's power to legislatively impact unenumerated rights. In State ex rel. Burlington & Mo. River R.R. v. County of Wapello , we noted the theoretical inconsistency between two prevalent legal doctrines: the doctrine that the Constitution allows the legislature the use of every power which it does not positively prohibit, and the doctrine that the Constitution reserves to the people all rights secured under our plan of government. 13 Iowa at 413. An inconsistency arises in that a legislature with full and uncontrolled sway to act in all ways not specifically prohibited in the Constitution would inevitably infringe upon rights reserved to the people. Id. In Wapello, we concluded that while the legislature may take actions to benefit the community, the Iowa Constitution's reservation of unenumerated rights to the people limits an abuse of legislative power. Id. at 412-15. Having concluded that the legislature may take reasonable action that impacts rights protected by the inalienable rights and unenumerated rights clause, we turn to whether the SVP statute is reasonable. Because of the State's interests in rehabilitating sexually violent predators and protecting the public, we find that pre-trial detention under the SVP statute is a reasonable, and thus constitutional, exercise of legislative power.