February 23, 2026, opinions

Posted on by tadbartlett

Designated for publication

  • Lewis v. Walley, 24-60379, appeal from N.D. Miss.
    • Smith, J. (Smith, Richman; Dennis on argument panel, but decision decided on a quorum due to Judge Dennis taking inactive status) (oral argument); qualified immunity
    • Reversing denial of qualified immunity defense to officer defendant on plaintiff’s § 1983 Fourth Amendment search claim, and rendering judgment of dismissal.
    • In this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 case, Stephen Lewis alleged that Southaven Police Detective Whitney Walley violated his Fourth Amendment rights by reviewing photographs extracted from his cellphone without a warrant. The underlying events involved another law enforcement officer in Mississippi who seized Lewis on an unrelated burglary charge and searched his phone without a warrant, finding evidence the Southaven police later used to seek an arrest warrant. The district court denied Walley’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and rejected her qualified-immunity defense, concluding her review of the images was a warrantless search that violated clearly established Fourth Amendment law.
    • On appeal, the Fifth Circuit reversed and rendered judgment dismissing Lewis’s claim. The panel held that Lewis failed to show that Walley’s conduct violated a “clearly established” constitutional right: the Supreme Court’s decision in Riley v. California did not clearly establish that a second-hand review of cellphone data obtained by another officer constituted a Fourth Amendment search, and no other precedent clearly put an officer on notice that such conduct was unlawful under the circumstances. The court also found Walley’s reliance on the other officer’s representation that a warrant had been “completed” was objectively reasonable. Because the plaintiff could not overcome Walley’s qualified-immunity defense, the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of qualified immunity and rendered judgment for Walley.

Unpublished decisions

  • Quinonez v. Bennett, 25-20333, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Davis, Jones, Ho) (no oral argument), prisoner suit
    • Affirming dismissal of Bivens claim.
  • U.S. v. Rodriguez, 25-20406, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Stewart, Graves, Oldham) (no oral argument), criminal
    • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
  • Sutton v. Adams, 25-30228, appeal from E.D. La.
    • per curiam (Richman, Engelhardt, Wilson) (oral argument), bankruptcy
    • Affirming bankruptcy court’s judgment that creditor’s claim for repayment of loans was not for bona fide loans and was, in any event, untimely.
  • Greenwald v. Murrill, 24-30661, appeal from E.D. La.
    • per curiam (Southwick, Willett, Ho) (no oral argument), Americans with Disabilities Act, standing
    • Reversing partial denial of state defendants’ motion to dismiss claim challenging application of Louisiana’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act under the ADA, on the basis that the plaintiff lacked standing against the state defendants she named “because her alleged injury is not traceable to these defendants. Greenwald was last arrested in 2017, and she has never been arrested or prosecuted for a SORNA violation by the state defendants.”
  • U.S. v. Martinez, 25-40547, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (King, Haynes, Ho) (no oral argument), criminal, sentence reduction
    • Affirming various procedural rulings and denial of motion for sentence reduction.