DIFTCL: Federal Narrative Summaries

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Federal Circuit affirmed the Merit Systems Protection Board’s final decision dismissing Sophia Hart’s appeal of her termination for lack of jurisdiction. The court held that Hart, an excepted service appointee under Schedule A who was not a preference eligible, failed to meet the definition of an &#8220...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The federal-circuit affirmed the judgment of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing Paul E. Pieczynski’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court held that Pieczynski failed to satisfy the requirements of the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491, which grants the Court of Federal Claims...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 3:24-cv-05887-DGE The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of all federal claims brought by WDNR firefighters against the Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and Commissioner Hilary Franz, as well as the dismissal of state law claims without prejudice. The court held that WDNR...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The ninth-circuit granted Kevin Alexander Ipina’s petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order that had dismissed his appeal from an Immigration Judge’s denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The court held that the Immigration Judge viola...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The federal-circuit dismissed the petition for review of a Merit Systems Protection Board decision under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b) upon agreement by the parties. The court ordered that each side shall bear its own costs, resulting in the termination of the proceeding without a decision on the merits of...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The federal-circuit dismissed the appeal for failure to prosecute in accordance with the rules because the appellant failed to file the appendix required by Federal Circuit Rule 30(a)(5) within the permitted time. This dismissal terminates the appellate proceeding, leaving the decision of the United States Court of App...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The ninth-circuit granted the petition for review and remanded the case to the Board of Immigration Appeals for further proceedings. The court held that the Immigration Judge abused its discretion by pretermitting the petitioners’ applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture relie...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) second final written decision holding claims 1–12 of U.S. Patent No. 10,681,109 unpatentable as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The court rejected the appellant’s argument that the PTAB violated the mandate rule from a prior remand by ad...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Federal Circuit dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the underlying decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims was not final. The court applied the standard established in *Williams v. Principi*, which permits review of non-final remand orders only if three conditions are met: (1)...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 2:21-cr-00273-GMN-MDC-1 The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order revoking Mario Jones’s term of supervised release, holding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion. The court applied the abuse of discretion standard under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), noting that a single violation may w...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Federal Circuit vacated its prior opinion and dismissed the appeal based on a joint stipulation of dismissal filed by the parties. The court ruled that all pending motions are moot as a result of this agreement. Each party shall bear its own fees and costs. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothin...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Ninth Circuit denied the petition for review filed by Milagros del Pilar Aragon Lema de Morales and Miguel Angel Morales-Serrano, natives of Peru, seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The court affirmed the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision to d...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The ninth-circuit granted the petition for review and remanded the case to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) for further proceedings. The court held that the Immigration Judge (IJ) abused its discretion by pretermitting the petitioners’ applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against To...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 5:25-cv-00860-DOC-DTB The Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s sua sponte order remanding the case to state court, holding that the district court erred in concluding Nissan failed to meet the $75,000 amount-in-controversy requirement for federal diversity jurisdiction. The court applied the standard...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Ninth Circuit denied Lina Maria Gomez Parra’s petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals decision that affirmed an immigration judge’s denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The court held that the immigration ju...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 2:23-cr-00414-HDV-3 The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a three-level downward sentencing adjustment under U.S.S.G. § 2X1.1(b) for defendant Ivin Kitu Sanford, who was convicted of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. The court applied a clear error standard of review to t...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 4:24-cv-06325-YGR The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of Zurich American Insurance Company, holding that the Employment Practices Liability Insurance Policy (EPLIP) entitles the insurer to exercise its right and duty to defend a claim prior to the insu...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Sixth Circuit affirmed Michael Thomas’s 120-month sentence for possessing a stolen firearm, rejecting his claim that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by failing to conduct a more thorough inquiry into his dissatisfaction with appointed counsel. The court applied the rule that whi...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 8:25-cv-00720-DOC-DFM The Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s sua sponte order remanding the case to state court, holding that the district court erred in concluding Nissan failed to meet the amount-in-controversy requirement for federal diversity jurisdiction. Under the standard established in *Dart...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The eighth-circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment in part and dismissed the remainder of Garnell Carter’s appeal. The court held that Carter’s plea agreement contained an enforceable appeal waiver covering challenges to the validity of the agreement, the calculation of his offense level and cri...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of David Hirsch’s 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition, ruling that the Bureau of Prisons correctly treated his sentences as a single aggregate term and properly denied him First Step Act time credits due to his conviction for possessing a firearm in furtherance o...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The sixth-circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Ryan Baugh’s lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency for failure to state a claim under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Mandamus Act. The court held that Baugh lacked an adequate remedy in court because he could have pursued i...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district courts’ denial of compassionate release motions for defendants Isaac Loggins and Barton Crandall, holding that nonretroactive changes to sentencing laws, specifically amendments to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) under the First Step Act, cannot constitute “extraordinary and compe...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The seventh-circuit vacated the district court’s dismissal of William Clements’ complaint against Gunnar Optiks under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court held that the district court erred in granting dismissal based on the Health Insurance Porta...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Eighth Circuit affirmed the sentences imposed on codefendants Christopher Howes and Salvador Caracena-Zarates following their convictions for federal drug distribution offenses. Regarding Howes, the court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing a 100-month sentence, which exceeded the a...