Designated for publication Higginson, J. (Smith, Higginson, Douglas), Smith, J., dissenting; Clean Air Act, administrative law Denying petition for review of EPA final rule rejecting Texas’s Clean Air Act State Implementation Plan under the “Good Neighbor” rule. The Fifth Circuit denied Texas’s petition challenging EPA’s 2016 disapproval of Texas’s “Good Neighbor” SIP for the 2008 … More September 22, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Graves, J. (Elrod, Graves, Higginson), sec. 1983, death penalty Affirming dismissal of Texas capital inmate’s sec. 1983 claim that Texas’s post-conviction relief procedures are unconstitutional, and denying motions for a stay of execution and for leave to file a successive habeas petition. Blaine Keith Milam was convicted in Texas of murdering his … More September 19, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Duncan, J. (Dennis, Graves, Duncan), Dennis, J., dissenting; criminal, pretrial detention, immigration Affirming denial of motion for pretrial detention. The majority affirmed the district court’s denial of Celia Ignacia Esquivel-Bataz’s motion for pretrial release, rejecting her argument that the district court improperly relied on an immigration detainer to find her a flight … More September 16, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Elrod, C.J. (Elrod, Duncan, Engelhardt), indemnity, maritime law Affirming that contract between plaintiff and defendant was not a “maritime contract,” and that the indemnity provision was therefore invalid. Genesis Energy appealed the dismissal of its crossclaim for defense and indemnification against Danos, LLC, after a Danos employee was injured transferring from an … More September 15, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Oldham, J. (Haynes, Ho, Oldham), immigration Denying in part and dismissing in part Mexican citizen’s petition for review of BIA order denying motion to reopen removal proceedings. The Fifth Circuit reviewed Juan Jose Garcia Morin’s petition challenging the Board of Immigration Appeals’ refusal to reopen his removal proceedings. Garcia Morin, a Mexican … More September 12, 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
Designated for publication per curiam (Haynes, Ho, Oldham), Ho and Oldham, concurring; oral argument Ordering that panel will entertain additional oral argument via Zoom if appellant’s lead counsel requests, since lead counsel had emergency hospitalization shortly before argument. Judge Haynes noted that argument went forward because attorneys on both sides had traveled to attend the … More September 8, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Willett, J. (Richman, Willett, Douglas), Douglas, J., dissenting; international custody, Hague Convention Granting panel rehearing, and entering new panel opinion reversing and remanding to district court with instructions to order the return of child to father in Venezuela. A Venezuelan father, Jose Leonardo Brito Guevara, sought the return of his daughter, A.F., … More September 4-5, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Southwick, Oldham, Ramirez), Ramirez, J., dissenting in part; Oldham, J., dissenting; immigration, due process, Alien Enemies Act, habeas corpus On remand from U.S. Supreme Court’s grant of temporary restraining order halting deportation of petitioners under the Alien Enemies Act, granting preliminary injunction blocking removal of petitioners, leaving in place government’s … More September 1-3, 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
