Every decision we've summarized from United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of a federal prisoner's motion for compassionate release, finding the district court properly exercised its discretion. The appellate court also issued a stern warning regarding the appellant's submission of fabricated case law and misquotes in his brief.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed Vickiel Vincent Vaughn's conviction and sentence for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, ruling that text messages used as evidence were non-testimonial under the Confrontation Clause. The court further held that the district court did not commit plain error by failing to make individualized sentencing findings for a within-Guidelines sentence.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Jason Stanford's lawsuit because he filed the action without obtaining prior leave of court as required by a valid vexatious litigant order. The court held that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) permits sua sponte dismissal for such non-compliance and that Stanford could not relitigate the validity of the underlying order.
The Fifth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction against Texas’s S.B. 4, holding that the immigrant advocacy organizations lacked Article III standing because they voluntarily incurred costs to advocate for clients rather than suffering a concrete injury.…
The Fifth Circuit dismissed Katie Young's appeal as frivolous, ruling that she failed to meaningfully argue that releasing her academic transcript violated her Fourteenth Amendment privacy rights. The court denied her motion to proceed in forma pauperis and affirmed the district court's dismissal for failure to state a claim.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed George Dennis Moore's conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon, rejecting his constitutional challenges as foreclosed by controlling precedent. The court held that while the statute is constitutional on its face, Moore's status as a probationer at the time of the offense precludes an as-applied challenge.
The Fifth Circuit granted the Federal Public Defender's motion to withdraw from representing Jason Anthony Dirks after finding no nonfrivolous issues for appeal. The court dismissed the appeal, leaving the district court's judgment in effect.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Federal Tort Claims Act suit filed eighteen years after an unauthorized VA surgery. The court held that Mississippi's seven-year statute of repose creates an absolute time bar that cannot be tolled by the discovery rule.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a challenge to a Harris County administrative order restricting public access to criminal defendants' contact information in bail bond orders. The court held that the order constitutes a permissible denial of access to government information rather than a violation of the First Amendment, and that the presiding judge acted within her statutory authority.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a pro se employment discrimination lawsuit because the plaintiff failed to timely serve the United States and the Postal Service as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The court held that the plaintiff's failure to respond to the motion to dismiss and her counsel's inactivity forfeited any arguments regarding equitable leniency or the expiration of the statute of limitations.