Please enjoy the latest version short circuita weekly feature written by a group at the Institute for Justice.
Friends, it is illegal to operate a food truck in 96% of Jacksonville, NC, and probably illegal in the other 4% at any given time, since food trucks are prohibited from operating within 250 feet of each other. That’s not something hard-working, honest people who just want to make a living do, so this month IJ filed a lawsuit under the state constitution, which protects North Carolinians’ inalienable right to “enjoy the fruits of their labor.” Click here understand more.
- Pennsylvania State Police, investigating calls of gunshots, walked toward a man’s encampment and saw two cylindrical devices they suspected — correctly — to be improvised explosive devices. Man: The tent is a dwelling, and the area around it (including where they found the IED) is the mansion for which they need a search warrant. district court: This is an open question in this tour, but the facts do not support a violation of the Fourth Amendment. third circuit (non-precedent and three-sentence analysis): Definitely.
- “[Y]Young people have an age-old appetite for sweets,” fourth circuitconfirming that the FDA rejected a vape company’s request to sell fruit and dessert flavored e-cigarettes.
- charge: In retaliation for prosecuting officials (at a different facility) after he was stabbed, the Lee County, Virginia, federal prison inmate was placed in “special housing” for three months. The cells were frozen and covered in mold. For the bedding, he was only given a piece of one-inch cotton that covered half the length of his body and was covered in hair. Unconstitutional conditions of imprisonment? fourth circuit: Constitution?
- Handcuffed Southlake, Texas police officer screams at distressed autistic 8-year-old in principal’s office. fifth circuit (2019): Continued prosecution of (now former) police officer. fifth circuit (2022, unpublished): But charges of disability discrimination against the city were appropriately dismissed. “[T]no sign here [the officer] will not pass the same information in exactly the same way to non-disabled students [the child] did. ” [Ed.: The officer’s next gig? Police chief.]
- Louisiana law prohibits anyone from providing “respite care” to seniors without first convincing state regulators that those services are needed.and fifth circuit Saying that the law may be motivated by economic protectionism, but it is not only motivated by economic protectionism, is therefore constitutional.
- if this eighth circuit Opinions on qualifying waivers and Medicaid benefits will be referred to DC Circuit and your correspondent is morally certain rebound For UWTMASWTMWTF (using too many acronyms. Seriously. Too many. WTF).But at least it’s not Garamond – a separate and equivalent font unpardonable sin In the seat of government in our country.
- Bad news: Prisoner in solitary confinement at Arizona State Prison, in part because he was a gang member. Great news: an annual chance to appeal and escape loneliness! All you have to do is renounce your gang membership, prove it, and go through a lot of bureaucratic steps. Bad news: The prisoner was found to have evidence that he may still be involved with the gang. Good news: There is a way to attract that determination! Bad news: appeal dismissed, ninth circuit Say that’s fine. Dissent: The prison appeals process appears to be a mirage.
- Disgruntled Clark County, Wash., employees handed over cell tower location information to state regulators, resulting in the electrician being fined for improperly supervising skilled electricians. The electrician filed a lawsuit alleging that the regulator obtained the data without authorization, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. ninth circuit: You are confusing the teachings of the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court held that the “third-party doctrine” does not apply to the exception to the authorization requirement for cell phone site location data, but the case is governed by the Fourth Amendment’s “private search” exception, which has no such limitation.
- The allegation: The Phoenix, Arizona high school student — an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe — wanted to adorn her graduation cap with eagle feathers, a culturally important religious symbol. Uh oh! The rules say no decorations on graduation caps, and she couldn’t attend either. double oh oh! The school allows other students to wear secular messages on their hats. Violation of the First Amendment? ninth circuit: possible. The case was not dismissed. Partial dissent: It could also be that those other students simply violated the rules and didn’t get caught; plaintiff should add more allegations of selective enforcement.
- tenth circuitIn PSA to police: Fourth Amendment mandate requires no misleading flirting exception.
- charge: Ignore the sector. Policy, Oklahoma City officers broke into the home of a woman who committed suicide with a gun and beat her. In another incident, he flouted felony traffic stop procedures and shot and killed a motorist. He failed to follow up on reports of child abuse and failed to properly register the evidence. tenth circuit (Unpublished): None of this made the sheriff notice that he would rush past other officers and shoot and kill an unarmed, suicidal man. Claims against the city cannot proceed. (The officer was convicted of murder.)
- If the insured was “suicided by the police”, would a life insurance policy in Florida deny a death benefit in the event of a suicide? eleventh circuit: No, for the same reason, if he “kills himself on a train”, it won’t pay off. The cop/train may have killed the insured, but he started it.
- This defies all reason and experience, but eleventh circuit Think Crum could benefit from Couch’s demise.
- In en banc news, DC circuit won’t reconsider its decision It did not review the jurisdiction of the Federal Election Commission’s decision not to bring charges against groups that allegedly failed to register as political committees. The original trial team held that as long as any part of the non-enforcement decision was based on the discretion of the prosecution, it was not reviewable. Two justices opposed the denial, arguing that the rule allows commissioners to game the system, invoking prosecutors’ discretion when they think their legal reasoning is a stretch and ignoring it when they’re confident they’ll win in court.
- In more full-court news, sixth circuit (more than two objections) will not be reconsidered its decision The victim of an Ohio State athletic doctor who sexually abused hundreds of students between 1978 and 1998 could overcome a two-year statute of limitations if the university covered up his willful indifference.
- In more full-court news, ninth circuit won’t reconsider its decision Twitter does not have standing to challenge a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) issued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requiring the company to produce documents related to its content moderation decisions. The original panel argued that even though the CID might cool Twitter’s rhetoric, and the case was constitutionally mature, the case had not matured “deliberately” because Twitter could choose to ignore the CID.
- and in the new certificate application In news, the Eighth Circuit ruled in 2020 that a St. Paul police officer serving with the Joint State-Federal Task Force cannot be charged as a federal officer for framing a pair of teens for a crime that never existed. (The teen spent about two years in jail.) Then this year, the same court ruled that she, too, could not be charged as a state officer. Absolute immunity? Deliberately putting innocent people in jail? Scotus, please don’t. Click here understand more.or Click here Read the amicus briefing on exoneree Amanda Knox’s certificate of support.
- and in more new certificate application News, the Washington Circuit Court recently ruled that it is reasonable for District of Columbia officials to require child care workers to have college degrees. Presumably there are some benefits to this, and perhaps benefits to those who award the degrees. For everyone else, including DC parents (who already face some of the highest child care costs in the country) and child care providers (who may not speak English as a first language and definitely don’t need advanced math classes to do their jobs), SCOTUS, please no. Click here understand more.
- and in the additional new certificate application News, Ohio court rejects attempt by a Good Samaritan to use his private property in Akron — an old clay brick manufacturing plant and its back-office grounds — without indoor housing The homeless provide shelter from the life-threatening cold. Click here Listen to this well-crafted, in-depth podcast episode about the case — the shelter’s neighbors pleaded unsuccessfully with the city not to close the shelter.or Click here More information on the case itself.
- while in short reply News, do you believe the FBI is arguing — and the First Circuit agrees — that the Eighth Amendment prohibition of excessive fines does not apply to civil penalties? The federal government is trying to fine an octogenarian $2.17 million for failing to fill out a one-page form. (She herself notified the authorities of the omission.) SCOTUS, please don’t. Click here understand more.
- while in Introduction to amicus curiae News, IJ is asking the entire 5th Circuit to affirm its denial of qualified immunity to officials in Laredo, Texas who retaliated against a critical reporter arrested under a little-known public corruption statute and prosecutions, a statute that has never bound any journalist. Her alleged crime? She asked police sources to confirm some facts, which they did.
If you’re reading this, you already know: qualified immunity is an absolute disaster for sound governance, good order, and the soul of a nation. If you agree, please join Americans Against Qualified Immunity – a coalition of individuals who believe that if we must obey the law, then government employees must obey the Constitution too. Joining Americans Against Qualified Immunity means joining thousands of other voices calling for an end to this unconstitutional, unjust, and un-American doctrine. Visit AAQI.org for more information.
