Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
SCOTUSblog petition of the week: Does the Fourteenth Amendment require meaningful review of restrictions on the right to engage in a common occupation? IJ says not only yes, but also: oh my goodness gracious meaningful review is such a reasonable ask. Perhaps after you read the eminently readable petition you will agree. Click here for more on the case.
- A member of the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve sexually assaults another Marine’s wife while moonlighting as a bartender in Japan. He’s court-martialed and sentenced to 10 months’ confinement and a dishonorable discharge. But wait! The Constitution says Congress may only place “the land and naval Forces” under the jurisdiction of a court-martial, but membership in the Fleet Marine Reserve, though not formal retirement, “is a de facto retirement status.” Does that count? D.C. Circuit: Reservists can still be ordered back into service; that’s enough for military jurisdiction. Dissent: That may come as a surprise to the nation’s two million fully retired service members, who are also subject to recall.
- High-frequency trading occurs at the speed of light and every microsecond counts. Which is why a securities exchange put up a “speedbump” of 350 microseconds (1/11th the blink of an eye) to try to slow down “latency arbitrage” among its traders. Was the SEC’s “D-Limit order” approving the speedbump arbitrary and capricious? D.C. Circuit: No. The order’s fine.
- There are over 800k drones registered with the FAA, most of which are for recreational use. Due to worries of these little airplanes bumping into larger aircraft and helicopters—and also just falling out of the sky—Congress asked the FAA to develop standards for identifying them. The resulting rule requires all drones to have a “Remote ID” emitted via radio signal. Does the rule allow a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment? D.C. Circuit: This facial challenge fails. Flying a drone ain’t private, the radio signal can only be detected in close proximity to one, and the ID is anonymous. The rule is ok under the APA as well.
- After measles outbreaks in low-vax-rate communities, New York officials ditch religious exemption to vaccine requirement for school children and also tighten the standards for a medical exemption (a doctor’s mere say-so will no longer suffice). Second Circuit: And that violates neither the Constitution’s substantive due process protections nor a federal law that prohibits discrimination against the disabled. And anyway, kids only need to comply “if they wish to attend a school in the State,” so what’s the big deal?
- The Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV of the Constitution means that states can’t discriminate against nonresidents who want to pursue an occupation or acquire property in the state. But surely, says Prince George’s County, Md., that doesn’t mean we can’t discriminate in favor of gov’t employees who work in the county, right? Fourth Circuit: Of course it means that. What else would it mean? Come on, guys.
- South Carolina man experienced a childhood of appalling abuse and trauma, repeatedly attempted suicide, and underwent multiple in-patient stays in psychiatric hospitals before committing a string of horrific crimes. Sentencing court: There’s no mitigating evidence that he has a severe mental illness, so death penalty. Fourth Circuit: Uh, even under the most deferential standard out there (AEDPA), “the record plainly and unequivocally belies this conclusion.” Reversed. Dissent: This is the most deferential standard out there, and since fair-minded jurists can disagree about the correctness of the sentencing court’s decision, we must affirm.
- Man pleads guilty to committing a crime of violence while having failed to register as a sex offender (subject to his right to appeal the constitutionality of the law). In exchange, the gov’t drops two other counts on which he’d been indicted. He appeals, wins. Feds: But how ’bout them other counts? The agreement never said we couldn’t re-prosecute. Fourth Circuit: Not
Article from Reason.com
