Last Week in Federal Appeals (#79)
Appellate decisions from the week of March 16, 2026.
“Warning of the possibility of a dire consequence is no substitute for warning of its [practical inevitability] … I know every time that I get on an airplane that it could crash, but if you tell me it’s going to crash, I’m not getting on.”
~Judge Moritz, United States v. Aguayo-Montes (quoting United States v. Rodriguez-Vega)
Decision Summaries
Supreme Court of the United States
Oliver v. City of Brandon, Mississippi
The Supreme Court held that a plaintiff may bring a § 1983 action for forward-looking relief challenging a law’s constitutionality despite a prior conviction under that law because such claims do not fall within Heck v. Humphrey’s bar on collateral attacks.
First Circuit
New York v. Trump
The First Circuit affirmed most of the preliminary injunction blocking a government-wide funding freeze but vacated the portion requiring agencies to make payments on grants and contracts, holding that such relief likely exceeds the district court’s authority under the APA.
Abdisalam v. Strategic Delivery Solutions, LLC
The First Circuit refused to compel arbitration of a courier’s wage claims, holding that a worker who signed the agreement only on behalf of his LLC was not personally bound by its arbitration clause, and that courts—not arbitrators—decide whether non-signatories are bound.
Narrigan v. Goldberg
The First Circuit rejected a takings challenge to Massachusetts’s unclaimed-property statute, holding that interest claims are unripe until the owner seeks return of the property, and that a completed taking cannot support injunctive or declaratory relief.
Second Circuit
Suarez v. Sullivan, et al.
The Second Circuit held that a jury may infer deliberate indifference from circumstantial evidence where officials were aware of a serious risk to an inmate’s mental health but failed to respond adequately.
Russell v. Scott
The Second Circuit held that intentional sexual contact with a pretrial detainee that lacks a legitimate purpose is objectively unreasonable under the Fourteenth Amendment, applying a different standard than the Eighth Amendment test governing convicted prisoners.
Fourth Circuit
Goldman Sachs Bank USA v. Rhea Brown
The Fourth Circuit held that a bankruptcy court may decline to compel arbitration of a § 362(k) automatic-stay claim where arbitration would inherently conflict with the purposes of the Bankruptcy Code, emphasizing that such claims are core proceedings and that arbitration would undermine centralized adjudication and enforcement of the stay.
Bloosurf, LLC v. T-Mobile USA, Inc.
The Fourth Circuit held that the Communications Act’s election-of-remedies provision bars a plaintiff from pursuing the same claim in federal court after first filing with the FCC.
United States ex rel. Deborah Sheldon v. Allergan Sales, LLC
The Fourth Circuit held that, under the False Claims Act’s subjective scienter standard, a defendant may act with reckless disregard by continuing to submit claims despite being aware of a substantial risk that its interpretation of the law is wrong.
Baldwin v. DOWCP
The Fourth Circuit held that, under the Black Lung Benefits Act, a miner establishes a “year” of employment by showing 125 working days in a one-year period, rejecting any requirement of a continuous 365-day employment relationship.
Palazzo v. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC
The Fourth Circuit held that mortgage-related communications sent during bankruptcy are not “debt collection” where they are informational, include clear bankruptcy disclaimers, and do not demand payment.
Fifth Circuit
United States v. Porter
The Fifth Circuit held that the use of license plate readers to obtain a vehicle’s location on public roads is not a Fourth Amendment search and that such data may be used without a warrant.
Intuit v. FTC
The Fifth Circuit held that the Federal Trade Commission cannot adjudicate deceptive-advertising claims before an administrative law judge because such claims involve private rights that must be decided in an Article III court.
Ford v. Mckesson
The Fifth Circuit held that a protest leader may be held liable in negligence for injuries caused by third-party violence where a jury could find he organized and led the protest in a manner that foreseeably provoked a violent confrontation Such liability, the panel reasoned, does not violate the First Amendment.
United States v. Mendoza
The Fifth Circuit vacated several supervised-release conditions, holding that a district court must specify the duration of location monitoring and may not impose financial conditions unsupported by a restitution order or the record.
Sixth Circuit
United States v. Golobic
The Sixth Circuit held that the obstruction-of-justice enhancement may apply to conduct occurring before a formal investigation begins.
United States v. Hostettler
The Sixth Circuit held that defendants bringing as-applied Second Amendment challenges bear the burden of showing they are not dangerous under the court’s post-Bruen framework.
Seventh Circuit
Boyce v. Cox
The Seventh Circuit held that a prisoner’s single grievance can exhaust administrative remedies for an ongoing denial of care, rejecting the need for successive grievances where the condition continues.
United States v. Suggs
The Seventh Circuit held that a search warrant for a single-family home remained valid despite the building containing multiple units where officers reasonably failed to discover the error and limited their search to the correct unit once inside.
USAA Savings Bank v. Goff
The Seventh Circuit vacated an arbitration award, holding that an arbitrator exceeds her authority by disregarding an express contractual requirement.
Ninth Circuit
United States ex rel. Adventist Health Sys. of W. v. AbbVie Inc.
The Ninth Circuit held that False Claims Act claims are not barred simply because they arise from conduct governed by a statute that lacks a private right of action.
United States v. Martinez
The Ninth Circuit held that the federal ban on firearm possession by domestic violence misdemeanants is constitutional and may be applied categorically without individualized findings of dangerousness.
Sandler v. Modernizing Medicine, Inc.
The Ninth Circuit held that a generic severability clause does not defeat a clear and unmistakable delegation of arbitrability to the arbitrator.
Tenth Circuit
Salcido v. City of Las Vegas
The Tenth Circuit held that officers did not violate due process by failing to intervene during an active-shooter standoff, emphasizing that inaction does not satisfy the “affirmative act” requirement of the danger-creation doctrine.
United States v. Aguayo-Montes
The Tenth Circuit held that defense counsel must advise a defendant when a guilty plea will result in effectively certain deportation and that warning only of a possibility of removal is constitutionally inadequate.
United States v. Williams
The Tenth Circuit held that officers may not conduct a protective sweep of a vehicle based solely on a passenger’s association with a suspected criminal, requiring individualized reasonable suspicion that the passenger is armed and dangerous.
Eleventh Circuit
Foster v. Echols County School District
The Eleventh Circuit held that qualified immunity turns on whether an official’s conduct was clearly unlawful, not on whether the scope of personal liability under the relevant statute is clearly established.
DC Circuit
Simmons v. Rubio
The D.C. Circuit held that a timely motion for reconsideration renders the underlying agency action nonfinal for purposes of judicial review, so the limitations period begins only when reconsideration is denied.
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