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.
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- Some people think that natural gas is a much cleaner and more efficient fuel than many of its alternatives and that it would be good to be able to transport it by rail. Others think that doing so risks unleashing an explosion “equal to that of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.” The D.C. Circuit “express[es] no opinion on the wisdom” of either position, but it thinks that no matter who is right it’s essential to do a lot more environmental paperwork.
- After two state chemists in Massachusetts were revealed to have rampantly tampered with drug evidence and falsified test results, the state’s high court vacated over 30,000 criminal cases and ordered the repayment of most of the funds collected as a consequence of those convictions. But, said the court, folks were not necessarily entitled to the automatic return of property forfeited in connection with those cases. (Since, simplifying slightly, Massachusetts’s forfeiture regime—which has the distinction of earning the only F grade in IJ’s nationwide Policing for Profit study—lets the state confiscate your stuff based on mere probable cause.) First Circuit: And the hoary Ex parte Young doctrine means these folks are out of luck in federal court too.
- Two married Indian nationals have lawfully lived in the United States on employment-based nonimmigrant visas since 2012. After waiting in line almost eight years for a green card, they thought they had reached the front, only to be told two years later that their applications were on hold indefinitely until more immigrant visas became available. The last time this happened, applicants waited eight to nine years for final adjudication. Fed up with the delays, they sue. Third Circuit: Federal law gives USCIS unreviewable discretion on how to manage green card applications and the visa backlog. Whether this particular policy is sound is not for courts to say.
- Fayetteville, N.C. police approach the front of a house to conduct a “knock and talk,” finding two juveniles who say that the owner isn’t home. The officers nevertheless walk around the house, enter the backyard, and approach a shed, in which they find the owner and the smell of marijuana. Based on that evidence, police get a warrant and find contraband. The owner argues, inter alia, that he received ineffective assistance because counsel should have moved to suppress evidence due to officers exceeding the “knock and talk” doctrine—a claim that the lower court concluded was “frivolous.” Fourth Circuit: It’s not knock-and-talk-and-walk-around-the-backyard. We need an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the officers violated the owner’s Fourth Amendment rights. Reversed and remanded.
- Prince William County, Va.
Article from Reason.com
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