Judge orders Iowa to approve Satanic Temple event application

A federal judge has ordered Iowa’s Department of Administrative Services director to approve The Satanic Temple’s application for a one-day holiday event in the Iowa Capitol rotunda within seven days. Chief District Judge Stephanie M. Rose issued the preliminary order on Nov. 2, 2026, finding the plaintiffs likely to succeed on their free-speech claim.

The order concerns a one-day holiday event in the Iowa Capitol rotunda in Des Moines. The group’s proposed activities include Krampus costumes, caroling, coloring activities for children and ornament making.

The seven-day deadline is for approval of the application, not a date for the event itself. The order does not establish that the event has taken place. Iowa may still apply the conditions it uses for other events and subject props to ordinary Capitol security screening.

What the order permits—and what it rejects i

State officials raised concerns about children and sticks used with the costumes, and cited policies concerning gratuitous violence and obscene displays. The plaintiffs characterized the event as family-friendly and disputed the state’s safety rationale.

Rose said fear that Krampus costumes might frighten children was not a permissible basis to exclude the group’s speech. She also concluded that concerns about sticks did not justify denying the entire event. The practical distinction is that Iowa must approve this application, but the order does not exempt the event from ordinary rules applied to other Capitol events or from security screening.

The plaintiffs are The Satanic Temple and Iowa congregation minister Mortimer Adramelech. Their lawsuit challenges state officials’ denials or delays of Capitol event applications and asserts federal and state rights claims. Rose’s finding that they are likely to succeed is preliminary and concerns the free-speech claim; it is not a final judgment on the lawsuit or a ruling in their favor on every claim.

A dispute over Capitol applications i

The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 13, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. The case docket lists an Oct. 6 evidentiary hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction. The Nov. 2 order addresses the application for the proposed event; it does not finally resolve the plaintiffs’ claims about earlier application decisions.

The ACLU of Iowa, which represents the plaintiffs, says the group was permitted to hold a holiday display in the Capitol rotunda in December 2023, then faced denials or delays of applications from 2024 through 2026. The Associated Press reported that the 2023 display was later vandalized. That history provides context for the lawsuit, but Rose’s preliminary order is about whether the current event application must be approved.

The Iowa Attorney General’s office told the Associated Press that state officials intend to appeal. The case remains pending, and the preliminary order does not resolve the broader dispute over past denials or delays.