Correspondent
Federal courthouse correspondent, covers civil rights, employment discrimination, housing rights, and Second Amendment disputes.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's refusal to abstain under Younger v. Harris in a lawsuit by foster youth alleging systemic failures in Los Angeles County's care system. The court dismissed the appeal regarding standing as moot because the underlying complaint had been superseded by a later amended filing.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision in a civil admiralty dispute. The panel issued a nonprecedential per curiam judgment without providing detailed reasoning.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the defendant's conviction for possession of an unregistered firearm while vacating a portion of the written judgment due to a clerical error. The court ordered the written sentence to be amended to match the district court's oral pronouncement regarding concurrent sentencing.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed the appeal in Adams v. Collins by order. The dismissal was granted because the parties agreed to settle the proceedings.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court judgment dismissing a prisoner civil rights action for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The court upheld summary judgment on First Amendment claims where the defendants demonstrated legitimate safety reasons for their actions.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed an appeal because the appellant failed to provide a transcript of the district court hearing. Without the transcript, the appellate court could not review the grounds for the dismissal of the underlying case.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a pro se lawsuit challenging a labor union's actions and the National Labor Relations Board's General Counsel. The court held that the plaintiff failed to state valid claims regarding the duty of fair representation, First Amendment violations, and the General Counsel's authority.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by a pro se litigant as untimely and duplicative. The court held that the notice of appeal was filed well past the thirty-day deadline and repeated a prior appeal of the same judgment.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court judgment that had granted habeas corpus relief to a state prisoner challenging his first-degree murder conviction. The panel held that the state court's summary denial of the prisoner's claims was not objectively unreasonable under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court ruling that had granted summary judgment to University of Washington officials. The panel held that the university violated a professor's First Amendment rights by disciplining him for a parody land acknowledgment statement in his course syllabus.
