Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Fifth Circuit granted the government's unopposed motion for summary affirmance, rejecting an appellant's first-time constitutional challenges to a federal firearms statute. The court affirmed the conviction and sentence without addressing the merits of the Second Amendment or Commerce Clause arguments.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for JetBlue Airways, holding that the plaintiff's ADA disability discrimination claim was barred by the statute of limitations. The court ruled that the denial of a mask accommodation in 2020 was a discrete act that started the clock, and the plaintiff's subsequent actions in 2022 did not restart the filing deadline.
The Fourth Circuit denied a certificate of appealability for John Cox's attempt to challenge the timeliness of his habeas petition. The court found that Cox failed to make a substantial showing that the district court's procedural ruling was debatable or that he was denied a constitutional right.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed Shaun Marqus Robinson's conviction for possessing a firearm after a felony conviction, rejecting his Second Amendment challenges as foreclosed by controlling precedent. The court held that both facial and as-applied challenges fail because the statute remains valid under existing case law and Robinson's specific prior conviction.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the revocation of Elliot Walker's supervised release and his 36-month sentence, holding that circumstantial evidence was sufficient to prove he possessed fentanyl with intent to distribute. The court further ruled that any potential error in admitting hearsay testimony was harmless and that the district court did not plainly err by failing to exclude retributive factors from its sentencing reasoning.
The Fourth Circuit denied Meldamion Antoine Huguley's petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to vacate his federal firearms conviction. The court held that mandamus is an extraordinary remedy unavailable when adequate appellate or collateral review channels exist, particularly after the underlying § 2255 motion was dismissed as unauthorized and successive.
The Fifth Circuit dismissed Olamide Olatayo Bello's appeal as moot because he is no longer confined at the Fannin County Detention Center. Consequently, the court lacks jurisdiction to grant the requested relief and denied his motion to proceed in forma pauperis.
The Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a qui tam action alleging drug manufacturers violated the False Claims Act by inflating prices under the Section 340B Program. The court held that while the Supreme Court barred direct private suits to enforce Section 340B, the False Claims Act provides an independent cause of action for fraud against the government that is not precluded by that limitation.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Brian David Hill's appeal from the denial of his federal habeas corpus motion because he failed to obtain a certificate of appealability. The court found that Hill did not make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right as required by statute.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of a defendant for illegal reentry, rejecting his first-time constitutional challenge to the recidivism enhancement. The court held that the argument is foreclosed by the Supreme Court's decision in Almendarez-Torres v. United States.
