The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied a bid from a conservative nonprofit legal group to halt an Iowa law establishing gender quotas for members of a commission that screens potential state judicial nominees.

In an order Tuesday, the court denied Pacific Legal Foundation's emergency motion for a preliminary injunction to block a statute that requires an equal number of men and women commissioners elected to the State Judicial Nominating Commission, which interviews and screens nominees for appointment to the Iowa Supreme Court and the Iowa Court of Appeals.