We report after each month on interesting statistics from the data we generate from the daily opinion summaries from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and at the end of each court year (Oct.-Sept.) we will aggregate that–all of which provides useful insights into the inner workings of the Court, the relative … More May 2025 opinion statistics
Designated for publication Duncan, J. (Haynes, Duncan, Wilson), foreign official immunity, Torture Victim Protection Act Affirming dismissal of TVPA claims against former Nigerian governor under foreign official immunity. In this case, the widows of men killed by Nigerian military forces during rallies in 2020 sued former Nigerian governor Willie Obiano in a Texas federal court … More May 29-30, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Oldham, J. (Richman, Oldham, Ramirez, JJ.; Judges Richman and Ramirez did not concur in footnote 5); Fourth Amendment, state-law immunity, state constitutional claims, qualified immunity On claims arising from alleged conspiracy to steal documents from a cloud-based file storage system against various Texas agencies and in official- and individual-capacity against officials of … More May 28, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Higginson, J. (Elrod, Dennis, Higginson), First Amendment, sovereign immunity Affirming in part and vacating in part preliminary injunction against state entities to enjoin Texas law limiting information provided under managed vision plans, as an impingement on commercial speech, and affirming in part and vacating in part motion to dismiss on sovereign immunity … More May 23, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Elrod, Higginbotham, Southwick), maritime law Vacating and remanding for further proceedings the district court’s summary judgment on the question of the existence of a valid maritime lien on barges that shipyard and performed substantial changes to; and dismissing appeal in part. The Fifth Circuit held that the district court erred … More May 22, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication U.S. v. West, 22-11001, appeal from N.D. Tex. (denying panel reh’g but substituting new op.) per curiam (Elrod, Willett, Duncan), Willett, J., concurring; Duncan, J., concurring; criminal, sentencing, restitution, appeal waiver Vacating $6,000 restitution order as part of sentence for production of child pornography, and remanding for further proceedings; also, on Court’s … More May 21, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication per curiam (Ho, Wilson, Ramirez), Ho, J., concurring; appellate jurisdiction On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court with an order for the Fifth Circuit to hear the appeal expeditiously, ordering the case to be set on the next available oral argument panel. Judge Ho concurred, noting that the Court had to comply … More May 20, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Elrod, C.J. (Elrod, Jones, Stewart), administrative law, First Amendment Vacating FCC order requiring certain disclosures by broadcasters of employment demographics information. Petitioners challenged the FCC’s order requiring broadcasters to submit employment data through Form 395-B, raising four arguments, but the Court focused solely on the first: whether the FCC had statutory authority … More May 19, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Higginbotham, J. (Elrod, Higginbotham, Southwick), personal tort, Federal Tort Claims Act Affirming judgment in favor of plaintiff in personal injury and death arising from an auto collision with a U.S. Postal Service vehicle that then caused the plaintiff to go forward and collide with his neighbor’s house. The Court analyzed a case … More May 16-18, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Wiener, Stewart, Southwick), supervised release, criminal Affirming revocation of supervised release based on failure to report to federal parole officer and on state crimes while on release, even though arrest for revocation of supervised release did not occur until after term of supervised release was over, upholding invocation of jurisdiction … More May 15, 2025, opinions
