Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
State courts often follow bad federal precedent in interpreting their own state constitutions. How best to litigate against this? Over at the Brennan Center’s State Court Report, IJ’s Anthony Sanders suggests that lawyers should make originalist arguments using their own states’ history. Even if they’re not originalists themselves.
New on the Short Circuit podcast: Jury trial rights and a very general search.
- In 2017, the Trump administration put the brakes on the expedited path to citizenship that’s been available to non-citizen soldiers since World War I. After the district court strikes down some of the changes, the Biden administration rescinds the policy (while continuing to litigate the case and formulating a new policy that never materializes). Trump II administration: We’re bringing the policy back, and we want to appeal the district court’s opinion. D.C. Circuit: No can do. The case is moot, and also, since the recission was not an attempt to evade judicial review, the district court’s opinion is vacated.
- If you want to pilot commercial vessels on the St. Lawrence Seaway, you need a license from the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, however, has fully turned over its licensing authority to a private, for-profit business. When one captain—who has completed a lengthy apprenticeship but not yet received his license—raises concerns that the business is mismanaging its financial affairs, he’s blackballed on a variety of pretexts. He sues the Coast Guard, arguing, among other things, that delegating its regulatory authority to a private business is unconstitutional. D.C. Circuit: And we won’t get to the merits of any of it because we’re not sure he completed the training, even though he did the exact same training as everyone else who received licenses. (This is an IJ case.)
- Over a dissent from Justice Breyer, the First Circuit says a federal prisoner in New Hampshire who complains of intolerable knee pain cannot sue prison officials for deliberate indifference to his medical needs. Because knee pain is an entirely different context than untreated asthma.
- On March 25, six plainclothes law enforcement officers arrested Massachusetts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, allegedly based solely on an op-ed she co-authored more than a year earlier. By the time her lawyer filed a habeas petition, she’d been driven across the border to Vermont. But when the gov’t disclosed her location nearly 24 hours later, she’d been moved to Louisiana. The Massachusetts district court transferred the case to Vermont, which orders the feds to return her to Vermont. The feds seek an emergency stay. Second Circuit: Denied. Bring her back.
- Under current precedent, a probationer is entitled to two hearings when facing probation revocation: a preliminary hearing to decide whether there is probable cause to believe he violated conditions of his probation, and a revocation hearing to decide whether his probation will be revoked. Does due process require a finding that detention is necessary (to prevent flight or danger to the community) before someone can be detained between the two hearings? Third Circuit: The Supreme Court said that probable cause was sufficient, so its deliberate choice not to add a necessity requirement means that we can’t. Partial dissent: Detention pending final revocation hearing wasn’t at issue at the Supreme Court, so the statement is dictum that we don’t have to follow.
- New Jersey mother learns that her son was exposed to instructional videos about Islam as part of his social studies curriculum. As one does, she sues, alleging that this violates the Establishment Clause. Third Circuit: It does not. Concurrence: It so completely does not.
- If you’ve been itching to send graphic pictures of aborted fetuses to your coworkers in the Fifth Circuit, have we got some great news for you.
- How long must a motion for an injunction flounder upon a district judge’s desk before it is “constructively denied,” allowing the movant to appeal (here, Amazon seeking relief from some NLRB rulings)? Fifth Circu
Article from Reason.com
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