Justia U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Appellants (“Defense Distributed”) have challenged publication restraints imposed by the U.S. State Department, federal courts, and the State of New Jersey (“NJ”) after appellants published the internet computer-assisted design (“CAD”) files for a single-round plastic pistol. Although Defense Distributed is still prevented from publishing, the CAD files it published remain available on many other websites. At issue in this combined appeal and motion for mandamus relief stems from a district court’s (“DC”) order severing the case and transferring it to a federal court in NJ. The court found that the Defense Distributed satisfied the first two conditions for mandamus relief. Further, the NJ Attorney General did not carry its burden to demonstrate that transfer is more appropriate than the plaintiffs’ choice of forum.The court concluded that the DC’s order severing and transferring the claims against the NJAG to the District of New Jersey was a clear abuse of discretion, giving rise to an appropriate exercise of the court’s mandamus power. View "Defense Distributed v. Bruck" on Justia Law

Appellant filed a 42 U.S.C. 1983 suit against Williamson County, Texas (“County”), alleging that county prosecutors denied him due process secured by the Fourteenth Amendment by lying to his counsel during plea negotiations, misconduct caused by the County’s “closed-file” policy. Appellant alleged that both his Brady and due process claims were enabled by the county’s closed-file policy, which prevented his attorneys from examining evidence, leading him to involuntarily plead guilty. The circuit court reasoned that they could not conclude that the closed-file policy caused the prosecutors to lie. Thus he failed to create a triable issue on the causal connection demanded by Monell. Further, the court held that the appellant’s Brady claim is foreclosed. They reasoned that this court’s precedent has consistently held that Brady focused on the integrity of trials and did not reach pre-trial guilty pleas. The circuit court affirmed the magistrate’s grant of summary judgment as there is no showing that a county policy was the force behind the appellant’s constitutional violation argument. View "Mansfield v. Williamson Cty" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence as an armed career criminal pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) after he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon. The district court treated defendant's Texas aggravated robbery conviction and two Texas burglary-of-a-habitation convictions as the violent felonies compelling the enhanced sentence. Defendant contends that it was unconstitutional for the district court to apply the law as it existed when he was sentenced rather than when he committed the crime.The court concluded that the district court not violate due process by counting defendant's burglary convictions as violent felonies. The court explained that classifying Texas burglary of a habitation as a violent felony is not "clearly at variance" with the ACCA's text; nor was counting defendant's burglary convictions as violent felonies "unexpected" in light of precedent. The court also concluded that defendant's aggravated robbery conviction qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCA's elements clause. View "United States v. Jackson" on Justia Law

The government appealed the pretrial exclusion of certain evidence of lawyer Jason Williams's tax history from the years predating the charged conduct. Williams was indicted for lying on his taxes and failing to report large cash transactions to the IRS. In this case, the district court admitted some evidence, excluded other evidence, and deferred certain rulings until it had the benefit of the context that trial provides. For the rulings it did make, the district court reserved the right to revisit those decisions at trial.The Fifth Circuit concluded that the district court did not clearly abuse its discretion in concluding that the evidence was improper "other act" evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) and, alternatively, inadmissible under the Rule 403 balancing test. The court noted the difficulties of making Rule 404(b) and 403 assessments in the vacuum of pretrial review and concluded that the district court did not clearly abuse its discretion in excluding the evidence based on what it knew at that time. View "United States v. Burdett" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence for conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. The court concluded that the district court did not err in applying an enhancement under USSG 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) because defendant's crime of conviction was distinct from the crime used to support the application of the (b)(6)(B) enhancement. In this case, defendant was convicted for conspiring to possess guns (i.e., make straw purchases) to help drug dealers, but defendant's sentence was enhanced under (b)(6)(B) because the straw purchases were used to protect or aid in the drug trafficking activity of the distributors. Therefore, the other felony offense for (b)(6)(B) purposes was the drug dealing conspiracy of the distributors, which was distinct from defendant's.The court also concluded that the district court did not plainly err by applying both the section 2K2.1(b)(5) and (b)(6)(B) enhances as the district court did not apply the enhancements based on the same offense, but instead enhanced defendant's sentence to reflect his involvement in two distinct offenses. View "United States v. Singletary" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs and the United States filed suit against the State of Texas, as well as state and local officials, seeking to enjoin enforcement of some or all of the new provisions in Senate Bill 1, which amended various provisions of the Texas Election Code pertaining to voter registration, voting by mail, poll watchers, and more.The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of the Committees' motion to intervene as defendants, concluding that the Committees have a right to intervene under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2). The court determined that the Committees made a timely application to intervene by right; they claim interests relating to SB 1 which is the subject of this consolidated suit; their absence from the suit may practically impede their ability to protect their interests; and the existing parties might not adequately represent those interests. Accordingly, the court remanded to allow the Committees to intervene by right in this suit. View "La Union del Pueblo Entero v. Harris County Republican Party" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment in this civil rights action brought by plaintiff against his prior employer with one exception: the court reversed as to the hostile work environment claim. The court concluded that, under the totality of the circumstances, a single incident of harassment, if sufficiently severe, can give rise to a viable Title VII claim. In this case, the incident plaintiff has pleaded, that his supervisor directly called him a racial epithet containing the n-word in front of his fellow employees, states an actionable claim of hostile work environment. The court remanded for further consideration. View "Woods v. Cantrell" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit held that 26 U.S.C. 4611(b) imposes a tax on exports in violation of the Export Clause. In this case, the United States contends that Trafigura must pay a tax on domestic crude oil that it exports from the United States. Applying Pace v. Burgess, 92 U.S. 372, 376 (1876), and United States v. U.S. Shoe Corp., 523 U.S. 360, 363 (1998), the court first considered whether the charge under section 4611(b) is based on the quantity or value of the exported oil—if so, then it is more likely a tax. Then the court considered the connection between the Fund’s services to exporters, if any, and what exporters pay for those services under section 4611(b). Finally, the court applied heightened scrutiny and strictly enforced the Export Clause's ban on taxes by guarding against the imposition of a tax under the pretext of fixing a fee.The court affirmed the district court's judgment and concluded that the United States may not enforce section 4611(b) on crude oil "exported from the United States." The court stated that Congress has crafted a scheme in which crude oil exporters are forced to subsidize activities that are not "services used or usable by the exporter." Section 4611(b) saddles exporters with the cost of anti-pollution measures that generally benefit society at large, and not specifically the exporter who pays the charge. View "Trafigura Trading LLC v. United States" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's imposition of a risk-notification condition of supervised release. Defendant contends that the risk-notification condition impermissibly delegates Article III power to the probation officer. The court concluded that the district court's error, if any, was neither clear nor obvious, and thus there is no plain error here. As defendant acknowledges, the court has already held that a district court does not commit plain error when it imposes this particular condition. View "United States v. Henderson" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendants' convictions and sentences for multiple counts of health care fraud and conspiracy stemming from their involvement in a scheme to falsely certify that patients were eligible for home health or hospice services. The court concluded that sufficient evidence supports defendants' convictions for health care fraud and conspiracy to commit that fraud. The court rejected defendants' contention that the government offered no proof that they knew the patients were ineligible for home health and hospice, and that the government did not prove the ineligibility of the six patients whose claims were listed as the substantive fraud counts. Rather, the record shows that defendants were intimately involved with the fraud, and that the certifications for all six patients were either outright lies or based on fabricated medical records.The court also concluded that the district court properly calculated the loss amount when sentencing defendants. In this case, the district court found that defendants' fraud was pervasive and thus treated the entire amount that they billed to Medicare as the intended loss, enhancing defendants' offense levels by 24 points, resulting in an advisory Sentencing Guidelines range of life in prison pursuant to USSG 2B1.1. View "United States v. Mesquias" on Justia Law