DIFTCL: Federal Narrative Summaries

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s imposition of a 180-month sentence on Tristan Barber for felon in possession of a firearm and illegal possession of a machinegun, rejecting his challenges to two sentencing enhancements. The court held that the district court did not clearly err in applying the cross-...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The fifth-circuit granted the appointed attorney’s motion to withdraw and dismissed the appeal after reviewing a brief filed in accordance with *Anders v. California* and *United States v. Flores*. The court concurred with counsel’s assessment that the record reflected no nonfrivolous issues for appellate rev...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit granted the Federal Public Defender’s motion to withdraw and dismissed the appeal after reviewing counsel’s Anders brief and the record. The court concurred with counsel’s assessment that the case presents no nonfrivolous issues for appellate review, applying the standard established i...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Jason Michael Schubert’s motion to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, ruling that he failed to establish prejudice required for a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding an erroneous Sentencing Guidelines calculation. The court ap...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment of conviction and sentence imposed on Dontrail Markise Gilmore for distributing and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The court applied clear error review to the district court’s factual findings and de novo review to its l...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s imposition of a 60-month sentence following the revocation of Reshon Lamont Scott’s supervised release. The court applied the plain error standard of review because Scott failed to object to the district court’s consideration of retributive factors under 1...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The fourth-circuit dismissed in part and denied in part a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by Clarence Hicks, Jr., seeking an order directing the district court to rule on his motion to compel and lifting a grant of indefinite leave to reply to defendants. The court held that the portion of the petition regarding t...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s orders regarding Paul Schultz’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and dismissed two specific appeals for lack of jurisdiction. The court held that there was no reversible error in the district court’s affirmance of the bankruptcy court’s summary ju...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit denied the petition for review filed by Pocahontas Coal Company, LLC regarding an order from the Benefits Review Board affirming an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) award of black lung benefits to miner Ronnie L. Wolford under the Black Lung Benefits Act, 30 U.S.C. §§ 901–945. The court applied...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed Mark Leslie Lively’s convictions for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fifty grams or more of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The court reviewed the record and found no reversible error regarding the district court’s denial of...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit granted Elena Garcia-Chilel’s petition for review, vacated the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order, and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court held that the immigration agency erred in two specific respects. First, regarding a defective Notice to Appear that lacked a date and...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The fourth-circuit affirmed the district court’s order dismissing Shirley Boatwright’s claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction due to her failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The court applied the standard that an FTCA plaintiff must exhaust all available...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of The Boeing Company in an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) retaliation claim brought by Lance Lowell Lewis. The court applied the burden-shifting framework established in *McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green*, requiring L...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the defendant on Dr. Lee’s age discrimination claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the West Virginia Human Rights Act (WVHRA), his retaliation claims regarding his removal as Chair of Neurosurgery, his constructive discharge claim, and hi...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 8:16-cv-00274-MSS-CPT The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment, upholding the jury’s verdict that found the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office liable for wrongful death while rejecting the plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claim against Deputy Mark Clark. The court held...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed Charles Raymond Wable’s 180-month prison sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm and witness tampering, rejecting his arguments that the district court erred in calculating his base offense level and abused its discretion by failing to consider nonfrivolous sentencing arguments. R...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 2:24-CV-02533-DDC) The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Michael Eugene Parker, Sr.’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The court held that because Mr. Parker failed to seek review by the Social Security Administration’s Appeals Council regarding the Administrative Law Judg...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s second amended preliminary injunction against DMARC Advisor BV (dBV) and dismissed the remainder of dBV’s appeal regarding correction and contempt orders. Regarding the injunction, the court held that it comports with the Supreme Court’s decision in *Abi...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 1:21-cr-20418-JLK-1 The eleventh-circuit vacated the defendant’s conviction for carjacking and remanded the case for a new trial on that count. The court held that the district court committed plain error by delivering an Allen charge that deviated substantially from the circuit’s pattern jury inst...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 Docket: 8:16-cv-00274-MSS-CPT The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of the plaintiff’s renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law and motion for a new trial regarding the Fourth Amendment claim, as well as the district court’s rulings on sovereign immunity, evidentiary admissi...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit vacated the panel opinion issued on July 2, 2026, and ordered a rehearing of the consolidated immigration cases en banc with oral argument to be scheduled at a later date. The court’s decision was based on a majority vote of circuit judges in regular active service who were not disqualified, actin...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit ordered a rehearing en banc of the consolidated immigration cases involving Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, Alejandro Villegas Angel, and Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado. The court vacated the panel opinion issued on July 2, 2026, pursuant to its own motion and a majority vote of the circuit judges in regular ac...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-10 The Fifth Circuit granted a petition for rehearing en banc on its own motion, vacating the panel opinion issued on July 2, 2026. A majority of the circuit judges in regular active service voted to rehear the consolidated immigration cases involving Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, Alejandro Villegas Angel, and Miguel Angel Gom...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-09 The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Joshua Wright’s § 1983 claim alleging that Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employees violated his deceased son’s substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to protect him from private viole...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-09 The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of Nautilus Insurance Company, holding that a “Prior Work Exclusion” in Bee Quality Inc.’s commercial general liability policy effectively barred coverage for claims arising from work completed before t...