Every decision we've summarized from United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a district court's decision to revoke supervised release and impose the maximum 36-month reimprisonment term. The court held that judges have wide discretion in revocation proceedings and may weigh the seriousness of violations heavily without being bound by advisory Sentencing Guidelines ranges.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied a petition for rehearing en banc regarding prisoner due process rights. The majority upheld a prior ruling that inmates facing transfer to disciplinary segregation are entitled only to informal, non-adversarial due process.
The Seventh Circuit denied a Honduran citizen's petition for review of an asylum denial, upholding the finding that gang extortion was motivated by perceived wealth rather than gender. The court held that general country conditions and academic articles were insufficient to establish the required nexus between the petitioner's proposed social groups and the feared harm.
The Seventh Circuit reversed a district court's grant of summary judgment in a prisoner civil rights case, holding that the plaintiff properly exhausted administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The court affirmed the denial of class certification but remanded the Eighth Amendment claim for trial.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained from a search warrant that mistakenly described a multi-unit dwelling as a single-family home. The court held that the warrant was valid because the investigating officer reasonably believed the address was a single unit, and even if the warrant were defective, the search was justified by exigent circumstances and the plain-view doctrine.
The Seventh Circuit certified a question of Kentucky state law to the Kentucky Supreme Court to determine if a state conviction for receiving stolen property categorically matches the federal definition of an aggravated felony. The court could not discern whether the state statute requires subjective knowledge of the stolen nature of the property, which is a mandatory element under federal immigration law.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an insurance company, holding that a Nursing Care Policy does not provide home health care benefits under Illinois regulations. The court ruled that the policy's alternative plan of care provision is discretionary and does not trigger state protections designed for policies that affirmatively guarantee home care.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed Bernard Seidling's bankruptcy fraud conviction, ruling that the district court properly admitted video evidence to rebut his claims of severe illness. The court held that the videos were relevant to the truth of his health representations and that their probative value was not substantially outweighed by any risk of unfair prejudice.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed Aaron Strong's conviction for witness tampering, ruling that evidence of routine federal-state collaboration on excessive force cases satisfied the statutory requirement for federal involvement. The court held that a defendant's false statements to a state investigator can constitute a federal crime when the underlying conduct is a common target of federal civil rights prosecutions.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for prison guards, ruling that a prisoner's failure to use established religious accommodation procedures precluded a finding of liability for refusing to hire him. The court further held that a guard's offhand comment calling a prisoner a snitch did not violate clearly established First Amendment law, shielding the officer from liability.