Designated for publication per curiam (en banc); en banc, First Amendment, Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause, ripeness, standing, sovereign immunity Granting en banc rehearing of June 20, 2025, panel opinion (Dennis, Haynes, Ramirez; Dennis, J., concurring) affirming district court judgment of facial unconstitutionality and preliminary injunction of state law requiring display of Ten Commandments in … More October 6, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication per curiam (Stewart, Dennis, Haynes) (oral argument), criminal, evidence, sufficiency of evidence, sentencing Affirming conviction and 293-month sentence for drug trafficking and distribution offenses and possession of child pornography. Sean Shaughnessy appealed his conviction and sentence after a jury found him guilty of two drug-conspiracy counts, one drug-distribution count, and one count … More October 1-2, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication en banc (vote to grant en banc reh’g); Ho, J., concurring in grant of rehearing en banc; Higginson, J., dissenting from grant of rehearing en banc; en banc, immigration, due process, Alien Enemies Act, habeas corpus On September 2, the three-judge panel (Southwick, J., writing for the court; Ramirez, J., dissenting in … More September 30, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Willett, J. (Wiener, Willett, Ho), Ho, J., dissenting; criminal, search and seizure Affirming grant of motion to suppress evidence, begrudgingly. The exclusionary rule has long provoked controversy, with critics deriding it as a blunt judicial tool that frees the guilty when police make mistakes. The oft-quoted Cardozo line—“the criminal is to go … More August 29, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication per curiam (en banc), habeas corpus, Brady violation, en banc Ordering en banc rehearing of now-vacated March 7, 2025, panel opinion (Higginbotham, J., joined by Higginson, J.; Duncan, J., dissenting) reversing district court’s denial of habeas petition based on prosecution’s failure to disclose witness’s status as confidential informant). Unpublished decisions per curiam … More July 30, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Granting en banc rehearing of unpublished February 26, 2025, panel opinion (Barksdale, Southwick, Graves, per curiam) reversing denial of summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff’s implied-false-certification claim and remanding for dismissal of case. Higginson, J. (Davis, Higginson, Douglas), search and seizure, administrative law, standing Vacating summary judgment in favor of airplane part manufacturer … More June 26, 2025, opinions
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 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 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 per curiam (voting against en banc rehearing: Elrod, Richman, Stewart, Southwick, Haynes, Graves, Higginson, Willett, Ho, Wilson, Douglas, Ramirez, JJ.; voting for en banc rehearing: Jones, Smith, Duncan, Engelhardt, Oldham, JJ.); Ho, J., concurring in denial of rehearing; criminal, sentencing, en banc Denying en banc rehearing of panel opinion (Elrod, Dennis, Higginson) … More February 28, 2025, opinions
