The California congressman wants the Eighth Circuit to reverse an Iowa federal judge’s dismissal of his suit over an Esquire article about his family’s dairy farm. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif,. is seen during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in 2018. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) (CN) — U.S. Representative Devin Nunes urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to reverse an Iowa district court’s dismissal of his libel lawsuit against Esquire magazine over what he calls a “hit job” by journalist Ryan Lizza. In a complaint filed in Sioux City federal court in 2019, Nunes, a Republican who has represented California’s 22nd Congressional District since 2003, accused Lizza and Esquire of publishing false and defamatory statements about him. Specifically, he claimed a 2018 article defamed him by saying he was hiding a “politically explosive secret” involving his family’s dairy farm in northwest Iowa.