DIFTCL: Federal Narrative Summaries

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims against various organizations and individuals alleged to support Hamas, rejecting arguments that the defendants aided and abetted the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack under the Anti-Terrorism Act (18 U.S.C. § 2333(d)) and the A...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The Fourth Circuit denied Jerome Garcia’s petition for a writ of mandamus, which sought to compel the district court to rule on his objections to a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation regarding his amended 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint. The court determined that the petition was moot because its review...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order dismissing Rodney Dale Class’s civil action without prejudice, which adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation. The court found no reversible error in the lower court’s decision after reviewing the record. As this was an unpublished per cur...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The Fourth Circuit denied the petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order affirming the immigration judge’s denial of Paula Dominguez-Reyes’s applications for asylum and withholding of removal. The court held that the petitioner waived her right to challenge the immigration judge&#82...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 6:25-CV-00312-RAW-GLJ) The tenth-circuit denied a certificate of appealability (COA) and dismissed the appeal regarding the district court’s dismissal of Walker’s second § 2254 habeas petition, while also denying his motion for authorization to file that successive petition. The court held that reason...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 5:26-CV-03091-JWL) The Tenth Circuit denied the appellant’s request for a certificate of appealability (COA) and dismissed the matter. The court held that the district court correctly applied the Younger abstention doctrine to bar the federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 because three criteria wer...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 1:25-cv-01270-SDG The eleventh-circuit vacated the district court’s November 5, 2025 order and remanded the case to determine whether the proceedings are moot following a state court order that quashed the charging instrument and dismissed criminal charges against two of the three appellants. The court h...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s order denying the Defendants’ motion to compel arbitration and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court held that the Defendants met their burden under the Federal Arbitration Act to prove the existence of a valid arbitration agreement by a prepond...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 2:22-cv-00482-JLB-KCD The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment in this civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by the personal representatives of a deceased individual and on behalf of his minor son against Collier County Sheriff officers and the county. The court issued a p...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 2:24-CR-00266-TS-1) The tenth-circuit granted the government’s motion to enforce an appeal waiver and dismissed the defendant’s appeal. The court applied the three-part standard established in *United States v. Hahn*, evaluating whether the disputed appeal falls within the scope of the waiver, whether...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 1:21-CV-00599-MV-DLM) The tenth-circuit denied William Paul Alexander’s application for a certificate of appealability (COA) and dismissed his appeal from the district court’s denial of his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The court held that Alexander waived his right to appellate revie...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 2:25-CV-00138-ABJ) The tenth-circuit denied David Wayne Hembree’s application for a certificate of appealability (COA) and dismissed the matter. The court held that Hembree failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). The court applied the standa...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The First Circuit granted the defendants’ motion for a stay pending appeal of the District Court’s second enforcement order, which had ruled that the Master Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) automatically extended beyond its original term due to ongoing negotiations. The court held that the defendants are...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 Docket: 2:23-CV-00424-DAK) The Tenth Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to QBE Insurance Corporation and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court held that under Utah law, QBE must demonstrate prejudice resulting from Geneva Rock Products’ untimely notice before it can...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Filed: 2026-10-02 The First Circuit granted the defendants’ motion to stay the District Court’s second enforcement order pending appeal. The court held that the defendants were likely to succeed on the merits because the District Court lacked jurisdiction to issue the second enforcement order after the defendants had already a...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s imposition of a 31-month sentence on Andrew Simmons for violating 18 U.S.C. § 3146 (failing to surrender) and applying an enhancement under 18 U.S.C. § 3147 (committing a felony while on release). The court held that the application of the § 3147 enhancement to a § 31...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 Docket: 3:23-cv-00541-MO The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Nike, Inc., dismissing Antoinette Morae’s religious accommodation claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Oregon’s parallel state statute. The court held that Morae failed to...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The Ninth Circuit granted the petition in part, denied it in part, and remanded the case for further proceedings regarding Luis Fernando Albarran-Sotelo’s applications for asylum and humanitarian asylum. The court held that substantial evidence did not support the Board of Immigration Appeals’ determination t...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The eighth-circuit denied the petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order dismissing an appeal from an immigration judge’s denial of cancellation of removal. The court held that the BIA correctly applied its waiver rule because the petitioner failed to specifically address the immigration jud...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Roy Lee Jones, Jr.’s motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i). The court applied an abuse of discretion standard of review to the district court’s weighing of the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). The panel held...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The eighth-circuit granted counsel’s motion to withdraw and dismissed the appeal because the defendant’s valid and enforceable appeal waiver barred review of the challenges to his Guidelines range calculation and the substantive reasonableness of his sentence. The court applied the standard for enforcing ple...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The eighth-circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in a pro se civil rights action brought by a former pretrial detainee alleging deliberate indifference regarding the non-surgical treatment of his hand fractures. Applying de novo review, the court held that the plaintiff failed to establis...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The fifth-circuit dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the appellant failed to file a timely notice of appeal. The court applied the rule that a timely notice of appeal is a jurisdictional requirement in civil actions, requiring filing within 60 days of the entry of the order or judgment being appealed u...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The Fifth Circuit granted the appointed attorney’s motion to withdraw and dismissed the appeal after reviewing the Anders brief and the record. The court concurred with counsel’s assessment that the appeal presented no nonfrivolous issues for appellate review, applying the standard set forth in *Anders v. Cal...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-01 The Fifth Circuit granted the Federal Public Defender’s motion to withdraw and dismissed the appeal after reviewing the Anders brief filed by counsel. The court applied the standard established in *Anders v. California* and *United States v. Flores*, concluding that the record reflected no nonfrivolous issues for a...