The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday reversed a federal judge's dismissal of Francis Casildo's sentence vacation motion, holding his prior Nevada drug conviction couldn't support career offender status because the state statute is "indivisible" and broader than fed...
The Eighth Circuit Monday vacated attorneys' fee awards in a Missouri parolee lawsuit, ruling that the Prison Litigation Reform Act's fee cap applies to parolees facing revocation proceedings because they are 'incarcerated or detained' when proceedings begin.
A Seventh Circuit panel on Tuesday reversed a district court's order granting a death row inmate transportation for brain scans, ruling the testing lacked sufficient nexus to his equitable tolling claim and ran afoul of Supreme Court precedent that bars pri...
The Fifth Circuit on Monday rejected families of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims' request to set aside a $1.1 billion non-prosecution agreement with the planemaker, finding the Department of Justice adequately consulted with families and saying "we lack jurisd...
A Fourth Circuit panel on Tuesday vacated a North Carolina woman's drug sentence after finding a 'material discrepancy' between the written judgment's supervised release conditions and what the district court orally announced at sentencing, ruling that warr...
A Third Circuit panel Monday rejected a Pennsylvania prisoner's Eighth Amendment and Americans with Disabilities Act claims challenging his removal from an opioid addiction treatment program after officials suspected him of medication diversion, ruling that...
The Eleventh Circuit revived TVPRA beneficiary claims by three sex trafficking victims against hotel operators Tuesday, ruling the victims had produced sufficient evidence that the hotels offered "personalized support" to traffickers beyond ordinary busines...
The Tenth Circuit on Tuesday reversed summary judgment for a Tulsa police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Black man with raised hands, ruling the officer violated 'clearly established' Fourth Amendment rights against excessive force.
The Fifth Circuit ruled en banc Wednesday that a Louisiana federal judge's sweeping medical care injunction against the state penitentiary at Angola violated the Prison Litigation Reform Act, calling the district court's rulings 'atavistic' attempts 'to con...
A Fourth Circuit panel affirmed Sunday a West Virginia federal judge's denial of habeas relief to a sex abuse convict who claimed a juror's statements about knowing his family and fearing for their safety if he were acquitted created impermissible external...
The Fourth Circuit on Monday affirmed a Virginia federal judge's decision not to construe a pro se prisoner's medical accommodation complaint as stating an Americans with Disabilities Act claim, ruling that the allegations pointed to 'deliberate indifferenc...
The First Circuit on Monday affirmed a 57-month prison sentence for a gun trafficking defendant, ruling that a federal judge properly relied on a co-conspirator's statement despite acknowledging it was a "somewhat close" question whether the evidence was re...
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed a district court's authority to seize accumulated family deposits from an inmate's trust account for unpaid restitution, holding that the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act's 'substantial resources' provision applies...
A Fifth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed summary judgment for a Texas jail medical director in a lawsuit over an inmate who gave birth alone in her cell, ruling the doctor lacked subjective knowledge of substantial risk when he didn't see an email about t...
A Fifth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed a Louisiana man's drug conspiracy conviction despite finding the trial judge improperly questioned a struck Black juror sua sponte, ruling the defendant failed to prove 'purposeful discrimination' where two Black j...
A Fifth Circuit panel on Thursday denied rehearing a case challenging the use of acquitted conduct in sentencing, despite calling the practice "deeply troubling" and raising "serious constitutional issues and fundamental questions of fairness."
A Fourth Circuit panel on Thursday rejected a convicted felon's constitutional challenge to federal gun possession laws and upheld enhanced sentencing for weapons with large-capacity magazines, with Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III declaring that "the Constitu...
The Sixth Circuit on Thursday granted qualified immunity to Michigan prison officials who allegedly ignored a years-long scabies outbreak affecting 200 women inmates, ruling that no case law clearly established their duty to override medical contractors' mi...
A Third Circuit panel unanimously affirmed Tuesday that probabilistic DNA software TrueAllele, which calculated an 11.5 trillion likelihood ratio linking a defendant to a firearm, meets federal reliability standards for expert evidence despite defense argum...
A Second Circuit panel Thursday vacated a Connecticut federal judge's ruling that allowed a prisoner to apply his First Step Act time credits to reduce his supervised release term, holding the FSA only permits credits to accelerate release from prison, not...