DIFTCL: Federal Narrative Summaries

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The fourth-circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Antoine Darrell Smith’s motion for compassionate release and sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) and (2). Applying an abuse of discretion standard, the court held that the district court did not err in finding Smith was not entitled to...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Third Circuit vacated the District Court’s order denying a motion for attorney’s fees, costs, and expenses, and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss that motion. The court held that because the District Court had previously determined the underlying lawsuit was unripe and dismissed it for lack o...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Fourth Circuit affirmed Brian Thomas Bright’s 87-month sentence imposed following a resentencing proceeding for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. The court applied an abuse of discretion standard, reviewing the sentence for reasonableness and ensuring no significant procedural errors oc...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The fourth-circuit denied David Hill’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking the recusal of a former district court judge, the vacatur of a March 2005 order, and the vacatur of prior Fourth Circuit decisions related to that order. The court held that mandamus is a drastic remedy reserved for extraordinary circum...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The fourth-circuit denied Dorian Scott Burks’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking an order directing the district court to accept his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion or grant additional time to comply with filing requirements. The court held that mandamus is a drastic remedy available only in extraordinary circumstan...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Fourth Circuit affirmed Whitteney Guyton’s 66-month sentence imposed for health care fraud and making false statements relating to health care matters. The court applied an abuse-of-discretion standard of review to Guyton’s claims that the above-Guidelines sentence was procedurally and substantively unre...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The fourth-circuit affirmed the district court’s order dismissing John Anaya’s civil complaint, denying his motions to amend, and denying as moot his motions for in camera review. The court found no reversible error in the lower court’s proceedings after reviewing the record. Consequently, the dismissa...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Fourth Circuit affirmed Jalisa Hawkins’s conviction for violating 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C). Regarding her claim that the district court erred in describing permissible uses of prior bad act evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), the court applied the plain error standard under Federal R...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 1:19-cr-00448-LMM-CCB-1 The eleventh-circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment revoking Sedarious Lawrence’s supervised release and imposing a sentence of twelve months and one day of imprisonment. The court applied an abuse of discretion standard to review the revocation and substantive reaso...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The First Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision confirming an arbitration award that required Harvard College to include psychology doctoral students conducting lab-based research within its collective bargaining unit with the Harvard Graduate Students Union. The court rejected Harvard’s arguments th...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 2:19-CV-02402-TC) The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment to the boilermakers on their claims for early-retirement benefits and the timeliness of those claims, while reversing the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants on breach of fiduci...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 2:21-cv-00797-RAH-JTA The eleventh-circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling as applied to Bruce Henry, holding that Alabama’s Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act is unconstitutional as applied to him. The court determined that Henry retains a fundamental right under the Due...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The fourth-circuit affirmed summary judgment on Colette Cunningham’s retaliation claim but reversed and remanded her gender-disparate treatment and pay disparity claims under Title VII. The court held that Cunningham waived any challenge to the district court’s ruling on retaliation because she failed to add...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 5:24-cv-00716-WFJ-PRL The eleventh-circuit dismissed the appeal sua sponte for lack of jurisdiction because the notice of appeal was untimely. The court applied the standard set forth in Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1) and 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a), which requires a notice of appeal to be filed within 30...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the order Lucas sought to challenge was neither a final order nor an appealable interlocutory or collateral order. The court applied the statutory requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and § 1292, along with Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b) and the standard establ...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 1:26-cv-04400-SDG The eleventh-circuit dismissed the appeal sua sponte for lack of jurisdiction. The court held that remand orders based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction are unreviewable under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) and (d), citing *New v. Sports & Recreation, Inc.* and *Kircher v. Putnam Funds Trust*...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 6:18-cr-00078-CEM-UAM-1 The eleventh circuit affirmed the district court’s sentence of thirty months’ imprisonment to run consecutively to a state sentence, followed by two years of supervised release, imposed upon revocation of supervised release. The court applied an abuse of discretion standard...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 1:25-cv-02035-TRJ The Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court’s dismissal of Leon Benjamin’s civil rights complaint and remanded the case for further proceedings. The appellate court held that the district court erred by dismissing the entire complaint under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine without...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 5:22-cr-00017-GAP-PRL-1 The eleventh-circuit granted the government’s motion for summary affirmance, upholding the district court’s denial of Jorge Mojocoa’s motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The court applied a de novo standard to review eligibility and an abu...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Pueblo County and the AFSCME unions, dismissing Patricia Hernandez’s claims for disability discrimination and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as her claim for breach of the duty of fair r...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 The Tenth Circuit denied Donovan Mercer’s application for a certificate of appealability (COA) and dismissed the matter. To obtain a COA to appeal the denial of his motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6), a federal prisoner must make a substantial showing of the denial of a c...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 5:26-CV-04006-TC-ADM) The tenth-circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6). The court applied an abuse of discretion standard, reviewing whether the district court’s ruling was arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, or ma...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 1:94-CR-00152-WJM-1) The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s imposition of a six-month prison sentence and one year of supervised release following the revocation of Darrel Bailey’s supervised release for failing to register as a sex offender. The court held that Bailey failed to demonstrate t...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 1:24-CR-00027-TS-1) The Tenth Circuit granted the government’s motion to enforce an appeal waiver contained in a plea agreement 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 th...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-09-29 Docket: 2:21-cv-00122- The ninth-circuit denied petitions for panel rehearing and/or rehearing en banc regarding a challenge to the denial of a preliminary injunction that sought to block a land exchange mandated by the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act. The court’s decision was based on its bind...