The state of Iowa will pay journalist Laura Belin $49,000 for legal expenses in the lawsuit Belin filed after repeatedly being denied media credentials by the Iowa House of Representatives. Less than a week after Belin filed her lawsuit in federal court in January, the chief clerk of the House reversed her decision and Belin was credentialed.
On Tuesday, the State Appeal Board approved the payout to Belin to cover her attorney fees and related expenses as part of the settlement of the lawsuit. Any legal settlement using state funds must be approved by the three-member board. It’s members are the Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat in statewide office, State Treasurer Roby Smith and Kraig Paulson, who was appointed director of the Iowa Department of Management by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021 and was previously a Republican member of the Iowa House for 14 years, including four years as Speaker of the House. The vote to approve the use of state funds to settle the case was unanimous.
Belin, one of the state’s leading political journalists, has covered the Iowa Legislature since 2007 for her own news site, Bleeding Heartland, and has been KHOI’s statehouse reporter since 2021. She had applied for Iowa House press credentials at the beginning of the legislative session every year since 2019, but the chief clerk of the House had rejected the application every time.
Republican leaders in Iowa have frequently expressed hostility towards Belin’s careful reporting on state government issues, and claimed Belin isn’t a “real journalist” because she is candid about her liberal political beliefs. The clerk’s office never cited Belin’s politics when rejecting the press credential application, and instead claimed at various times that Belin wasn’t actually a journalist or was a “nontraditional” journalist, or simply gave no reason at all for the rejection.
On Friday, Jan. 19, Belin filed a lawsuit against Iowa House Chief Clerk Megahn Nelson in federal district court in Des Moines. Belin was represented by the Institute for Free Speech (IFS), a Washington D.C.-based nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on First Amendment issues.
In its filing, IFS argued “the House’s denial of Belin’s credentials is an unconstitutional attempt to play favorites and punish dissent. By manipulating the credentialing process to exclude certain reporters, the House has violated her constitutional rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
The nonprofit further argued the problem was bigger than just the refusal to credential Belin: “As implemented, the credential policy itself also unconstitutionally gives Nelson unbridled discretion to deny First Amendment rights.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 24, Belin announced she had received her credentials.
“Filing this lawsuit made House leaders understand that they have been violating my First Amendment rights,” Belin said in a written statement after being credentialed.
“Ms. Belin endured shifting obstacles for years. But once litigation demonstrated the serious constitutional issues, the House had to recognize her qualifications,” Courtney Corbello, the IFS attorney who represented Belin, said in a statement. “This case underscores the First Amendment principle that public officials cannot manipulate press credential policies to play favorites or suppress critical coverage.”
