March 17, 2026, opinions

Designated for publication Smith, J. (Smith, Wiener, Higginson) (oral argument), criminal, sentencing, equal protection clause Affirming conviction and 30-year sentence for production and attempted production of child pornography. Nautica Hamilton, a day care worker at the Lubbock YWCA, pleaded guilty to production and attempted production of child pornography after photographing the genitalia of an 18-month-old … More March 17, 2026, opinions

March 16, 2026, opinions

Designated for publication Higginson, J. (King, Higginson, Wilson) (oral argument withdrawn), Title IX, costs Affirming costs award to defendant on plaintiffs’ Title IX claims. Eight former student-athletes on SMU’s women’s rowing team sued the university for gender-based discrimination under Title IX and negligence under Texas law, alleging that substandard coaching, athletic training, and medical treatment … More March 16, 2026, opinions

March 10-11, 2026, opinions

Designated for publication per curiam (Smith, Haynes, Oldham) (no oral argument), Haynes, J., “simply joins in the denial” without separate concurring opinion; class action, mandamus, Fair Labor Standards Act Denying writ of mandamus from district court’s certification of collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Fifth Circuit denied the employer’s petition for a … More March 10-11, 2026, opinions

March 4-5, 2026, opinions

Designated for publication Davis, J. (Davis, Jones, Stewart) (no oral argument), criminal Affirming conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon. Lester Landrum pleaded guilty but preserved constitutional challenges to the statute, arguing that it violates the Second Amendment (both facially and as applied), the Equal Protection Clause, the Commerce Clause, and that it … More March 4-5, 2026, opinions

February 24, 2026, opinions

Designated for publication per curiam (Smith, Richman, Graves) (oral argument), free exercise, mootness On receiving an answer of “no” from the Texas Supreme Court on the certified question of whether Texas’s Code of Judicial Conduct prohibited judges from publicly refusing to perform same-sex weddings while continuing to perform opposite-sex weddings, holding that the suit was … More February 24, 2026, opinions

February 12-13, 2026, opinions

Designated for publication Wilson, J. (King, Higginson, Wilson) (no oral argument), immigration, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, res judicata Withdrawing December 15, 2025, opinion and substituting new opinion affirming dismissal of challenge to denial of visa for foreign student plaintiff sought to sponsor under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but in change from original panel opinions … More February 12-13, 2026, opinions

January 30, 2026, opinions

Unpublished decisions per curiam (Smith, Higginson, Wilson) (no oral argument), criminal, search and seizure Affirming conviction of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, upholding denial of motion to suppress. per curiam (Richman, Engelhardt, Wilson) (oral argument withdrawn), Title VI, sec. 1983 Affirming dismissal of claims by student dismissed from medical school for unsatisfactory academic performance. … More January 30, 2026, opinions

December 10-11, 2025, opinions

Designated for publication Richman, J. (Smith, Dennis, Richman) (oral argument), Dennis, J., concurring; criminal, sentencing Affirming conviction and concurrent five-year and life sentences for conspiracy to stalk and cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon and resulting in death; but vacating conviction and consecutive life sentence for using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during a crime … More December 10-11, 2025, opinions

October 20, 2025, opinions

Unpublished decisions Richman, J. (Richman, Haynes, Duncan) (oral argument), insurance Reversing in part and affirming in part dismissal of claims against insurer for a declaration of insurer’s duty to defend and indemnify: reversing the magistrate judge’s dismissal of BPX’s duty-to-defend and duty-to-indemnify claims, vacating and remanding BPX’s declaratory judgment claim, and affirming the magistrate judge’s … More October 20, 2025, opinions

September 9, 2025, opinions

Designated for publication Ho, J. (Haynes, Ho, Oldham), criminal, restitution Affirming judgment that defendant’s service-connected payments were not exempt from garnishment to pay restitution order. The Fifth Circuit affirmed a writ of garnishment on $46,084.49 in Christopher Allen-Shinn’s USAA account to satisfy $92,500 in restitution from his child-pornography conviction, holding that 26 U.S.C. § 6334(a)(10)’s … More September 9, 2025, opinions