Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment, holding that the plaintiff's insurance claims were time-barred under Michigan law. The court further ruled that the policy's choice-of-law provision selecting Michigan law was valid and enforceable.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed Tayseer Yousef's conviction and 109-month sentence for interstate transportation of stolen goods and conspiracy. The court held that Yousef was accountable for the armed robberies committed by his coconspirators because the violence was within the scope of their jointly undertaken criminal activity.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed Donald Ray Hurst, Jr.'s conviction and sentence while dismissing his appeal regarding the reasonableness of his lifetime supervised release term. The court remanded the case solely to correct a clerical error where a recommended vocational training provision was omitted from the written judgment.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a pro se plaintiff's lawsuit alleging wrongful mortgage transfer, rejecting the argument that failure to record a loan transfer voids the debt. The court held that the plaintiff's reliance on non-existent case law and abandoned legal theories provided no basis to overturn the district court's ruling.
The Fourth Circuit dismissed the portion of Kenneth Roshaun Reid's appeal that challenged the validity of his convictions because it functioned as an unauthorized successive habeas petition. The court affirmed the district court's denial of his motion to reduce his sentence under Sentencing Guidelines Amendment 826, finding no reversible error in the lower court's handling of the statutory sentencing issue.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Michael Jerome Orr's motion for compassionate release, finding no abuse of discretion. The appellate court upheld the lower court's decision to deny relief after weighing the statutory sentencing factors, even though it previously acknowledged Orr met the threshold for extraordinary and compelling reasons.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of Douglas Lee Barlow's motion for compassionate release, finding no abuse of discretion in the district court's weighing of sentencing factors. The court further held that defendants seeking sentence reductions under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) have no constitutional or statutory right to appointed counsel.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by Derritt Swearington against the Federal Trade Commission. The court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction because the district court order denying a motion for default judgment was not a final or appealable interlocutory order.
The Fourth Circuit dismissed Arkeem H. Nellon's appeal from a district court's procedural dismissal of his habeas petition because he failed to obtain a certificate of appealability. The court independently reviewed the record and found Nellon did not make the requisite substantial showing that the procedural ruling was debatable or that his underlying claim involved a constitutional right.
The Third Circuit affirmed the District Court's denial of Rasheed Hargrove's motion for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act. The appellate court found no abuse of discretion, noting the lower court properly considered Hargrove's arguments regarding historical sentencing inequities.
