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Please enjoy the latest version of Short circuita weekly feature written by a group of people at the Institute for Justice.

Certificate granted! Friends, we’re excited to share what the Supreme Court just addressed Gonzalez v. Trevinoan IJ case about officials who spent months planning to imprison our client on false charges after she criticized them — and whether the First Amendment might protect against something like that.

New to Short Circuit Podcast: Special guest Professor Daniel Epps joins the show to talk about the Fourth Amendment and common law.

• A New York prisoner hands a box of Spam to another prisoner. Corrections officer – who apparently Doesn’t like spam– He confiscates the box. Original prisoner demands return of spam. Because of this, he is locked in a holding cell for 23 hours a day, resulting in his parole being revoked. And all this without hearing. Violation of due process? Second Circuit: Maybe, but immunity qualifies so we won’t tell you.
• Promising Basketball player He commits to the University of Louisville on a full scholarship. Yes! Apparently, without the young man’s knowledge, his father, facilitated by an agent, accepted $100,000 from Adidas to entice his son to attend Louisville School, a school sponsored by Adidas. When the FBI investigation becomes public, the school refuses to allow the student to practice or play (but does not withdraw his scholarship), and his basketball career never takes off. Did Adidas and the agent do a RICO on the student? Fourth Circuit: they did not.
• After puncturing holes in the home of an innocent third party in McKinney, Texas, SWAT officers fire tear gas grenades into the home, pass through the front door, etc. The damage leaves the homeowner in financial ruin. Should the city compensate the homeowner? Jury: Yes, pay $66,000. Fifth Circuit: Everything Medina said is wrong, but we invalidate it anyway for other reasons that we have not seen. (This is an IJ case.)
• Texas Jedediah Murphy, on death row for the murder of a 79-year-old woman in a 2000 carjacking, is seeking an 11-hour stay of execution that would allow him to conduct DNA testing on certain evidence. But the evidence would not prove his innocence of murder, just the alleged kidnapping which was taken into account at sentencing to assess his future danger. The Fifth Circuit is already hearing a case regarding the same issue that has been fully briefed and discussed and is awaiting a decision, so the district court grants a stay pending the outcome of that case. Fifth Circuit:Which was reasonable enough. Dissent: I don’t have time to point out all the errors in the majority opinion, so I’ll just attach what I think the majority opinion should have said. (Note: The day after this ruling was submitted, the Supreme Court Residence permit And Texas executed Murphy.)
• Investors in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suing over some very complicated matters related to mortgages, bailouts, etc. They take it all the way to the Supreme Court! Who says (2021): There is a deadlines clause issue here. It was referred to see if it had caused harm to investors. District Court: Yes, even if the appointment had been done differently, God knows if they would have been better off. Very speculative. Fifth Circuit: confirmed. Every time you make an assumption. . .
• The former NFL tight end — who was forced out of the game due to multiple concussions over eight years — applies for disability benefits from the NFL’s retirement plan and is granted. When the Social Security Administration finds him completely disabled, he returns to the NFL and gets his benefits increased to a higher level, but not to the highest level. He did not appeal this ruling, but returned two years later and is seeking to adapt to the highest level. The NFL denies that right and sues the player under ERISA. Fifth Circuit: District court opinion paints a damning picture of the NFL’s “rubber stamp” review process, but it needed a First Amendment appeal.
• The man pointed a gun and threatened to kill me, his children’s mother told police more than fifteen minutes later. “I have adrenaline pumping through me.” The man on trial: These statements are hearsay. They are certainly not acceptable as enthusiastic statements. Sixth Circuit: This is not a close case. The conviction was confirmed.
• During a nighttime protest following the killing of George Floyd, a Des Moines, Iowa, police officer tackled a news photographer, pepper-sprayed him, and arrested him for “failure to disperse.” The charges were dropped, and the photographer filed a lawsuit. Eighth Circuit (Over partial dissent): There is no qualified immunity for an officer in a photographer’s Fourth Amendment claims of unlawful seizure and excessive force. The photographer was standing alone, and not in an illegal gathering, and the officer dealt with him for basically no reason. The case must go to trial.
• half Sunset Strip Assassins The duo is on death row in California for six murders. In 1992, he filed a “habeas corpus petition” requesting an attorney to investigate potential habeas corpus claims but not seeking habeas corpus damages. Since this was filed before AEDPA was passed in 1996, does he have more latitude in seeking habeas corpus relief? Ninth Circuit: he did not do. His original petition did not seek to adjudicate the claims on the merits, so it is not considered a habeas corpus petition. Accordingly, it is the petition he submitted in 1997 that must be reconsidered, and it is not based on merits. (to update(He died the day after this opinion was issued.)
• It’s not every day that a federal appeals court finds a campaign finance disclosure law unconstitutional. But the stars sided with Wyoming Gun Owners, a nonprofit gun rights advocacy group that was fined $500 for violating Wyoming’s “electioneering communications” disclosure laws after it ran provocative radio ads in the state’s 2020 primary election. the Tenth CircuitJudge Tim Timkovich, a campaign finance expert from his days in private practice, finds the disclosure system unconstitutional as applied to a “mom-and-pop advocacy group.” As a bonus, the Commission also reverses the district court’s denial of attorney’s fees.
• Text battle in Eleventh Circuit, where the whole damn bank is divided on whether “any officer or employee of the United States” includes former officers and employees. Nine judges, good news for Timothy Butt, rejected Akinatun Ali, the self-described “heir to the Kingdom of Morocco,” who was convicted of filing retaliation liens against properties owned by a former High Court commissioner. The IRS and former Treasury Secretary after the IRS refused to refund $2.7 million in taxes to him in 2015. (His Highness did not mention any wages or salary.) Three judges thought the result was somewhat ridiculous.
• In the bank’s news, the Ninth Circuit I will reconsider Her final decision That there is no conflict between Idaho’s law prohibiting most abortions and the federal Medical Treatment and Emergency Employment Act.
• In more banking news,… Ninth Circuit Won’t reconsider Her rule That a detainee resisting deportation was not eligible for a second bail hearing as part of his habeas corpus challenge. Eleven justices — an insufficient number in the Ninth Circuit — would have voted to go for the ban.
• In additional news at the bank, the Eleventh Circuit I will reconsider Her decision That prisoners must show that prison officials acted with more than mere gross negligence, and nothing more than mere negligence, to state a claim of willful indifference. (Don’t get too excited; at least one member of the court thinks even recklessness wouldn’t be enough.)

New condition! Last spring, officials in Ocean Springs, Miss., declared that a century-old black neighborhood filled with modest but well-maintained homes was actually a blight and a slum, a designation that would allow officials to use property rights to seize and transform the property. To another private owner. And they did it secretly. Mississippi law requires no notice to property owners, who have only a 10-day window to appeal the blight designation. So, Cynthia Fisher and several of her neighbors filed suit this week, arguing that the law violates the 14th Amendment. click here To learn more.

New condition! Last year, Noah Petersen was arrested while calmly reading a prepared statement, in which he called the mayor and police chief fascists, during a public comment period at a Newton, Iowa, city council meeting. But the First Amendment – ​​and the Fourth and Fourteenth – are empty promises if officials can imprison their critics on a whim, which is why Noah filed a lawsuit this week to defend his rights. click here To learn more.