The Jurisprudence of the Iowa Judicial Branch’s Form of Law and Ethics

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Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board Director of Attorney Discipline Tara M. van Brederode:

1. Strategic and Tactical Introduction with Philosophical Framing

Thank you for your response. However, it appears that you are neither appropriately addressing these complaints nor recognizing the tactical and lawful persistence of the complainant.

The evidence indicates the Iowa Judicial Branch is not manifesting justice (truth) but is instead positioning itself for a philosophical war—one rooted in deception, institutional preservation, and the distortion of public conscience (see Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Section 1.18). Your response assumes you are dealing with an adversary operating from a victim mindset—someone who expects the state to manifest justice or provide ‘remedy’ (deception; see Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Section 4.15). The evidence suggests otherwise. In this case, the evidence indicates you are not properly addressing the nature of the adversary now filing these complaints with your office, nor do you appear to understand the complainant’s strategic or jurisprudential objectives (see Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Section 3.18). I am not seeking remedy from the state, nor does the evidence suggest you are dealing with a party operating from a position of victimhood. 

Your response appears designed to evoke frustration and defeat in a less resolute complainant. At the same time, I am fully prepared to continue lawfully filing complaints with this court pursuant to Iowa Rules of the Court Chapters 32 and 35, while challenging this court with an evidentiary record that reveals how it processes—and consistently fails to address—evidence of its licensed community’s misconduct (see Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Section 6.2). That evidence includes attorney misconduct from 2019 to 2025 involving protected class-based discrimination [see Iowa Code Chapter 216; Iowa Rules of the Court § 32:8.4(g)], misrepresentation of third-party rights [see Iowa Rules of the Court § 32:8.4(c)], concealment of evidence related to domestic abuse and military sexual trauma (MST) [see Iowa Rules of the Court § 32:3.4(a)], proliferation of allegations of criminal misconduct supported by zero evidence that were never filed with this court [see Iowa Rules of the Court § 32:8.4(c)], unlawful restriction of rights [see Iowa Rules of the Court § 32:4.4(a)], and actions that were designed to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person [see Iowa Rules of the Court § 32:4.4(a)], with evidence supporting numerous other violations of the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct.

Your response is legally insufficient and constitutes misrepresentation under Rule § 32:8.4(c) by falsely framing the role of the Attorney Disciplinary Board as remedy-based rather than accountability-driven. This framing is not only inaccurate—it misleads the public and misstates the board’s ethical mandate. In your response, you stated, “It is important that you understand that the Attorney Disciplinary Board does not have jurisdiction to grant you any personal remedy. The Board is also unable to address alleged violations of your constitutional rights.” Under such logic, if a woman were to submit a complaint citing attorney sexual harassment, the evidence suggests this Board would abdicate its disciplinary duties under Rule 32:8.4(g) while hiding behind ‘no personal remedy’ claims and redirecting institutional burden onto the victim, repeating boilerplate language: “It is important that you understand that the Attorney Disciplinary Board does not have jurisdiction to grant you any personal remedy.  The Board is also unable to address alleged violations of your constitutional rights.”   Does this Board not bear an ethical and legal responsibility—under Iowa Court Rules Chapters 32 and 35—to discipline attorney misconduct, regardless of whether civil remedy is concurrently sought through the courts?

Your response was nothing more than gaslighting—a mendacious form of discursive engineering, crafted to diminish the gravity of my complaint and deflect focus away from the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board’s obligation to investigate attorney misconduct.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s refusal to process these complaints—based on the assertion this board does not provide ‘personal remedy’—amounts to calculated obfuscation. This court is actively redirecting public attention away from its responsibility to hold members of its licensed legal community accountable under Iowa Rules of the Court, Chapter 32, despite clear and documented evidence of professional misconduct. I believe this court enables misconduct because it refuses to properly investigate the violations documented in these complaints—allowing criminal acts and discrimination by licensed legal professionals to go unchallenged.

The evidence supporting the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board’s failure to enforce its own ethical code is, by definition, prejudicial to the administration of justice under Iowa Rule 32:8.4(d). The burden of accountability does not disappear simply because the subject of a complaint is politically connected or legally licensed. On the contrary—that is when accountability matters most.

The Iowa Supreme Court may sweep these complaints under the judicial rug—but the evidence of misconduct will remain in the Iowa Judicial Branch (see Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Section 6.23). This refusal to investigate licensed professionals in the face of documented violations under Chapter 32 is not oversight—it is complicity. Ultimately, when I have finished filing complaints with this board, the Iowa Judicial Branch will either produce evidence of enforcing its own rules through the accountability of its licensed community—or confirm that Iowa’s elite are held to a different standard of accountability than the citizens over whom this court presides.

https://io.phoenixharbor.net/public/grid/p3COdBkfPvCK83OxjqyN24xZn8MGMQB2oTwTOpbnZyc

2. The Form of the Iowa Judicial Branch

If a judicial branch produces evidence of systemic failure to hold its licensed community accountable for unethical conduct, how can it be trusted to administer justice within its courts?

I have not enjoyed the comfort of serving within a magnificent limestone building, resting on a foundation of sovereignty secured by others—where evidence shows the people’s understanding of truth is routinely manipulated, distorted by the pens of the esquire elite.

I have lived and served aboard warships—kept afloat not by misrepresentation, marble, or ceremony, but by the honor and integrity of those serving within the United States Navy. Where storms manifest the fury of God, decisions carry consequences, and honor and integrity are the only forces that separate life and liberty from a grave in the ocean’s abyss.

I do not fear the evil of this world, nor the power of this court or the State of Iowa’s law enforcement agencies—whose conduct, as the evidence shows, discriminates against and criminalizes the innocent. The only thing I fear is looking into the eyes of death without restoring my relationship with my children—or closing my eyes for the final time without being able to hold the hand of the woman I love.

Pulling the Iowa Judicial Branch Into the Light of God

I will be filing complaints with supporting evidence before this court, revealing the full extent of alleged attorney misconduct I have endured since 2019. These complaints, the accompanying evidentiary documentation, and this court’s dismissals or non-responses will also be submitted to the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

This forthcoming complaint—pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 12132 (ADA Title II)—against the State of Iowa and, specifically, the Iowa Judicial Branch, will include certified records from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs documenting an increase in my service-connected mental health disability rating from 50% to 70% during the year 2023.

At the same time this deterioration was formally recognized by the federal government, the evidence will indicate that Iowa Public Information Board Executive Director Erika Eckley and Jasper County, IA, Attorney Scott Nicholson repeatedly discriminated against and criminalized my service-connected mental health conditions on no fewer than four separate occasions throughout 2023 (see Iowa Code §§ 708.1(2)(a), 708.2(2), 708.7(1)(a)(4), and 718.6).

These actions by the Iowa Judicial Branch’s licensed community directly correlate with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs’ records, which authenticate that my condition was actively worsening—demonstrating a pattern of the State of Iowa’s willful disregard for both federal protections and basic human rights and dignity.

Judicial Ruins

When the masonry of a republic’s court has become compromised, it is only a matter of time before truth erodes its ability to stand. Authority and power that are not deployed with honor can only support the foundation of a civilization during a moment in time. Truth is eternal.

The Darkness Behind the Pillars of Justice

Obedience to the sum of the state’s failure to provide justice is not to show submission to it. Instead, it is to show evidence that the state stands on the wrong side of the law.

The truth will free the captives and provide sight to the blind.

Time will reveal Truth.

The Form of Politics and Perjury

Politics and perjury are similar because they both utilize a narrative encompassing words used to persuade an audience toward action while ignoring evidence of the truth.

Perfection, Flaws, and Corruption

The study of ethics is a pursuit of understanding the philosophical nature of right and wrong in its most perfect form. A society’s justice system is an ever-evolving pursuit of that perfection. Corruption is the cultural, political, or personal bias that overrules and interferes with that system.

The Form of the Iowa Judicial Branch’s Licensed Esquire Liar

A figure of licensed cowardice—an Esquire who conceals truth beneath a veil of authority.

One who simultaneously deploys misrepresentation, discrimination, or false allegations of criminal conduct against the innocent—not in pursuit of justice, but to advance a client’s social or political desires, or to shield themselves from the consequences of their own historical misconduct.

A judicial disease with no respect for the Iowa Rules of the Court—and perhaps, in moments of delusion, they even feel entitled to the cocaine they snort.

Revolutionary Courage

Without the ethical fabric of right and wrong, justice is nothing more than an evolutionary paradigm created by those with the power to define it. Once that paradigm has falsely defined the wrong person or group, it will be revolutionized.

The Form of the Legislative Code and the Rules of the Court

A legislative code or rules of the court does not lead to or manifest a paradigm of justice. It is simply a set of guidelines that govern a den of thieves.

3. The Form of the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Iowa

Below please find my completed ISCADB declarations concerning alleged violations of the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct by:

Hard copies and completed ISCADB complaint forms will be submitted via USPS Priority Mail. All referenced evidence is publicly accessible at the following secure URL:

https://io.phoenixharbor.net/public/grid/EdyKyFvTIKazLJEB7cbLLOjyiKw_ZSdYTpVG10oTbsc

I believe the publicly available evidence concerning Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird symbolizes exactly what my investigation since 2019 has revealed: the Iowa Judicial Branch’s licensed community is, in large part, a culture of unethical, criminal sycophants—individuals who embrace, excuse, ignore, or dismiss evidence of misconduct and criminality because doing so preserves the false reality they believe they are entitled to.

Meanwhile, they destroy the lives and families of the least among us—leaving behind a long and damning trail of evidence. Evidence that reveals, with chilling clarity, what the Iowa Judicial Branch truly represents within its eroding and cracked limestone walls.

People may see me as unhinged or overly passionate—perhaps because they’ve never served anything beyond themselves for twenty years of their lives. They’ve never returned home to betrayal, persecution, criminalization, discrimination, and misguided hate.

They exist comfortably within the freedom provided by others—yet show no evidence of gratitude, no act of service, and no awareness of the cost paid by those who secured the freedom they now embrace and celebrate.

4. Philosophical and Judicial Forms

The Form of the Passive-Aggressive Judicial Death Penalty

As the evidence reflects, the Iowa Judicial Branch and its licensed community are entangled in alleged misconduct—acts that, at times, rise to the level of criminality, accompanied by a clear desire to conceal them through procedural dismissal.

It is increasingly evident that the sound of my voice unsettles this legal fraternity. But I respectfully submit:

Does this court and its licensed community have the courage to bury me beneath the ground—Or will this institution continue its slow execution, Gaslighting justice with persecution while hoping I drown?

The Form of Professionalism and Decorum

An illusion often manifested through a curated persona or fine clothing—deployed not to reflect truth, but to seduce society into mistaking presentation for virtue. It conceals the raw imperfection of our humanity beneath a polished veil of deception and status, shielding unethical conduct with the costume of respectability.

Honor is not preserved in presentation or fabric, but in the spiritual pursuit of Truth—and in the philosophical conscience that dares to manifest righteous acts.

The Form of Plato’s Cave

Deceit is a prison evil deploys to trap its audience while distorting their view of Truth. Deceit and corruption are evil’s answer to survivability regarding a person or institution that no longer exists in Truth. Those who require deceit to sustain themselves have already fallen and abandoned their people in darkness.

The Form of Betrayal

The state provides evidence of its true and proper form when the honorable that have served it execute orders and adhere to laws, while producing a sum that reveals the truth the state lacks the courage to face.

During these times, the honorable must hold on to and adhere to the spirit of the country they serve and ensure the actions of the dishonorable bounce off the sides of their hull. At the same time, they work to restore that which they served in accordance with our laws.

My heart is permanently lost at sea. At the same time, my soul has a firm grip on the ship’s wheel.

The Form of the Spiritual Martyr

I have been warned not to poke the bear.  I have been advised to move on, to stay silent, and to stop challenging visible patterns of government corruption.

But regarding the authority this court may believe it holds to destroy my life on this Earth, I submit this truth with all due respect:  My faith in Jesus Christ—and Iowa Code § 720.2—compels me to say, I do not give a damn.

I will gladly carry my cross to the top of the State of Iowa’s Golgotha if it means revealing the truth and protecting others from enduring the same losses my family and I have suffered.

The only true path to success in this life is faith in Jesus Christ—and the honor, courage, and commitment to pursue the truth, regardless of the lies, threats, and intimidation used by those who seek to corral and control us.

Death comes for us all.  But life is only truly experienced by those who have the courage and persistence to stand in the light of God, no matter the cost…No matter the loss we sustain in this life.

The Form of the Veteran

We must defend not only the body—but also the spirit—of this republic throughout our lives, whether we are active or inactive in uniform. For even when we witness corruption within the government we once served, we did not defend that.

We defend the spirit of this republic—one that promises equal rights and “…the ability to [enjoy] and [defend] life and liberty; [acquire], [possess], and [protect] property; and [pursue] and [obtain] safety and happiness…” for all of God’s children. (Adapted from Iowa Const. art. I, § 1; tense adjusted for grammatical flow.)

When the very citizens we defended—and entrusted to uphold that promise—fail to do so, we must stand the watch once more. Not only to guard the philosophical conscience of this nation but to protect the lives of those who can no longer defend themselves.

I have served on every drop of water that sits on top of hell. I embrace the storms in this life because I know they will bring water from Heaven. 

The Form of the Iowa Judicial Branch Duality

I am nothing more than a mirror—many wish not to have near,
Reflecting what Iowa’s leaders truly fear.
A reflection of evidence amassed through the years,
Revealing too many as unethical profiteers.

A MAGA world that restores only the white,
Concealing their conduct in the darkness of night.
As they work to deport minorities out of sight,
They only provide evidence of their racist plight.

As the people stare into their orange prophetic sign,
I can see that many have already gone blind.
As the people drink from the governor’s poisoned wine,
I can see that many have already lost their mind.

When you dismantle false claims of stalkin’,
And leave Scott Nicholson’s integrity walkin—
This is what you say: “Sorry for Iowa Court Rockin’.”
When you catch Erika Eckley discriminatively talkin’,
and disability mockin—
This is what you say: “Sorry for Iowa Court Rockin’.”
When Scott Nicholson’s mid-election social media blockin’,
when you’re in a public forum talkin—
This is what you say: “Sorry for Iowa Court Rockin’.”

As the judicial branch minimizes its misconduct,
It only provides evidence of how it earns a buck.
As the unethical feast at their judicial potluck,
They prove beyond a reasonable doubt, this court is ethically bankrupt.

A judicial brothel that sells out the rule of law,
As its judicial officers deny the Truth that they saw.
A branch entwined in the devil’s claw,
That just flushed itself down a state park stall.

A state full of six-figure esquires,
Who can’t handle their scandal in the mire—
Or the high school grad they burned on their pyre.
That was reborn in their unethical fire.

When you dismantle false claims of stalkin’,
And leave Scott Nicholson’s integrity walkin—
This is what you say: “Sorry for Iowa Court Rockin’.”
When you catch Erika Eckley discriminatively talkin’,
and disability mockin—
This is what you say: “Sorry for Iowa Court Rockin’.”
When Scott Nicholson’s mid-election social media blockin’,
when you’re in a public forum talkin—
This is what you say: “Sorry for Iowa Court Rockin’.”

As this court destroys the American family,
while concealing evidence of its licensed brutality.
It unethically works to reshape its formality,
with a misrepresented form of prejudicial legality.

As the members of the Iowa Judicial Branch attend mass,
And hide their sins behind stained glass,
They only prove the verdict has come to pass—
That this corrupt court will not last.

It is time for this court to get misconduct out of its head.
If you want me quiet, give us liberty or make me dead.
So here’s a sorry in advance, no hard feelings six-figure-rich.

Respectfully,

Michael J. Merritt, USN (Ret.)
Founder, Phoenix Harbor
Writer/Musician
Information Warfare Specialist
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This correspondence does not communicate, imply, or endorse any past, present, or future violation of the United States Code or the Iowa Code. It is submitted solely for the lawful purpose of documenting the lived experience of injustice and respectfully demanding adherence to the ethical standards and disciplinary procedures set forth by the Iowa Judicial Branch pursuant to the Iowa Rules of the Court.

The phrase “If you want me quiet, give us liberty or make me dead” is a protected act of creative expression—referencing and adapting Patrick Henry’s speech to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775. This rhetorical device does not incite or endorse violence; rather, it raises a constitutionally protected question: if the Iowa Judicial Branch is willing to “decline” to process complaints that include evidence of licensed attorney misdemeanor conduct (see Iowa Code § 708.7(1)(a)(4)), would it also “decline” to process complaints that include evidence of felony conduct committed by licensed attorneys?

This correspondence contains expressions of public sentiment and a redress of grievances protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America and by Article I, §§ 1, 2, and 7 of the Constitution of the State of Iowa. The unethical within the Iowa Judicial Branch and its licensed community are respectfully requested to contact the following personnel regarding any future false allegations of criminal conduct supported by zero evidence: