Correspondent
Federal courthouse correspondent, covers civil rights, employment discrimination, housing rights, and Second Amendment disputes.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Erwin Eugene Semien's civil rights complaint, ruling that he abandoned several claims and failed to adequately allege constitutional violations. The court held that Semien did not state a claim for due process or equal protection because he lacked a protected property interest and failed to identify specific comparators.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a judgment finding that a police officer did not shoot a tribal member on a reservation. The court held that the government did not abuse its discretion in imposing a rebuttable adverse inference sanction for spoliation of evidence.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Proclamation and Guidance issued by President Trump, which circumvented the Immigration and Nationality Act's removal procedures, were unlawful.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed a district court injunction against an International Trade Commission investigation. The court held that an administrative law judge unconstitutionally appointed under the Appointments Clause lacked authority to issue a binding protective order.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of a writ of error coram nobis, holding that the defendant failed to prove prejudice from his counsel's alleged failure to warn him of immigration consequences. The court ruled that without contemporaneous evidence showing the defendant would have rationally rejected the plea to proceed to trial, the fundamental error standard was not met.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of T.M.J.'s IDEA claims, ruling that the two-year statute of limitations began running in 2020 when his parents knew or should have known of the alleged misdiagnosis. The court held that neither statutory exception for misrepresentation nor withholding of information applied to toll the deadline.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a First Amendment challenge to courthouse videorecording bans, holding that the restrictions were reasonable and viewpoint-neutral in nonpublic forums. The court found the plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege facts showing the prohibitions violated their constitutional rights.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Santa Clara County Superior Court, ruling that the plaintiff failed to prove disability discrimination under the ADA. The court further held that the plaintiff's remaining federal claims were barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and Eleventh Amendment immunity.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment against state defendants in a Section 1983 suit, holding that states and their agencies are not 'persons' subject to suit under the federal statute. The court also upheld the district court's decision to remand state law claims against an individual defendant to state court while retaining jurisdiction over state claims against the state itself.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Ryan-Michael Jarvis's civil rights complaint, ruling that law enforcement officers had probable cause to arrest him based on witness reports of threats and aggression at a music festival. The court held that the officers' actions were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment and that the district court correctly applied absolute prosecutorial immunity and qualified immunity to the defendants.
