Pro-tip for appellate lawyers: if your appeal is still live, don't wait 15 months to tell the court of appeals that your corporate client has dissolved. You won't win any friends on the bench.

#LawFedi #11thCircuit

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202014846.ord.pdf

#11thCircuit: prisoner's official & individual capacity #FirstAmendment claims against prison officials for scanning *legal mail* into the prison's computer system, allegedly allowing them future access to privileged communications to/from his lawyer, can go forward. #LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202114230.pdf

SCOTUSBlog's petition of the week asks: Is a prison guard entitled to #QualifiedImmunity after making a 67yo man with diabetes wounds on his ankles stand in feces-strewn shower water for 30 minutes, sending him back to #SolitaryConfinement with feces on his legs, and refusing him additional showers for a week?

(The man developed an infection and heart problems, requiring emergency surgery)

Both the trial court and the #11thCircuit ruled for the guard. #LawFedi #SCOTUS

https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/08/florida-man-contests-qualified-immunity-after-infection-from-forced-exposure-to-human-feces/

A divided #11thCircuit panel turned away an #Alabama death row inmate's request to delay today's #execution date.

His execution will be the first
since the state ordered a brief review of lethal injection procedures following a string of botched execution attempts, which per the dissent led to "protracted, severely painful, and grisly efforts to establish the intravenous lines" for three other inmates facing the #DeathPenalty.

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202312242.pdf

In #Florida, an assistant public defender running against her boss went on a political podcast and accused him of laziness, drug use, and racially discriminatory hiring practices.

But her boss won the primary. The next day, he fired her. She sued, alleging retaliation under the #FirstAmendment.

Today the #11thCircuit holds that the APD's allegations were protected speech, but the gov't interest in managing the PD's office outweighed her speech interests.

#LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202113894.pdf

This spring, an #11thCircuit panel upheld a #Florida law barring those under 21 years old from carrying handguns in public in 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘪𝘧𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘷. 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪.

On Friday, the full court voted to vacate that decision and rehear the appeal en banc.

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202112314.enb.pdf

Interesting #11thCircuit #ADA decision.

Universal won't let a one-handed man on a ride. It stipulates there were no specific risks to the man. But the manufacturer was hesitant to say it was safe for people w/o limbs to ride, and Universal says Florida law requires it to follow the manufacturer's guidance.

Not so, says the 11th. If FL law & the ADA conflict, the ADA preempts. Summary judgment vacated; let him ride, unless you can show the prohibition is necessary

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202210646.pdf

Yesterday in the #11thCircuit ...

A Georgia man was arrested for a probation violation. The problem? His probation was already over when he allegedly violated it. But his PO relied on a miscalculated date, so the man spent a month in jail.

The court concludes the error was merely negligent and not reckless or intentional. You know what this means: #QualifiedImmunity defeats the man's lawsuit. He won't recover anything for the time he was wrongfully jailed.

#LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/files/202213015.pdf

#Georgia DOC officials blocked outgoing emails from an inmate, on the basis that they asked for info to be forwarded to others.

#11thCircuit holds the prison officials violated the inmate's #14A #DueProcess protected liberty interests.

...BUT, #QualifiedImmunity defeats his lawsuit anyway, since there were no binding decisions directly on-point. (His declaratory action survives, though.)

#LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202111982.pdf

I think @popehat is correct here.

"In short: Judge #Cannon almost certainly won’t be removed from the case for bias unless (1) the court makes an unprecedent and norm-shattering ruling or (2) she delivers another travesty of an order and the #11thCircuit kicks her off. The first is extremely unlikely, the second is somewhat unlikely."

The second path would require (1) 1-2 more egregious rulings that are (2) reviewable by the 11th. A heavy lift.

#Trump #LawFedi

https://popehat.substack.com/p/thats-not-how-recusal-works-thats

I'm a bit bothered by this unpublished #11thCircuit decision released yesterday.

FL law prohibits video recording in sensitive areas. Cops got a warrant allowing video 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 of a spa where sex acts were alleged, but which was silent on 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 the video.

Cops record a man in the spa. He sues. 11th Circuit affirms a finding of #QualifiedImmunity, essentially on the logic that video recording was allowed because the warrant did not expressly prohibit it.

#legal

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/files/202213123.pdf

Nancy Abudu confirmed to the #11thCircuit, the first black woman appointed to the court.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/nancy-abudu-confirmed-as-first-black-woman-on-eleventh-circuit

#11thCircuit upholds #Florida law restricting firearms purchases to those 21 and older.

The panel's 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘯 analysis finds the law to be "consistent with our Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."

The panel was an unusual draw, w/ a Clinton appointee and two Obama appointees.

One judge, concurring in the judgment, notes that the Florida legislature is considering a bill to lower the age limit on firearms purchases to 18.

#legal #LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202112314.pdf

Man repeatedly sues Town for failing to comply with records requests. Town, annoyed, files numerous counterclaims, sues Man under RICO, & even files bar complaints against his lawyers. Town "mostly saw defeat" in these efforts.

Man now sues town under §1983 for all of this & more.

#11thCircuit says: since the retaliatory efforts were in direct response to protected expression, and since Man concedes Town had "civil probable cause" for them, it isn't liable.

#LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/files/202210865.pdf

"A provision of the American Rescue Plan Act which would have prevented states from using #pandemic relief funds to offset new tax cuts cannot be enforced, a unanimous panel of the #11thCircuit ruled on Friday."

https://www.courthousenews.com/treasury-department-cant-enforce-american-rescue-plan-tax-cut-rule-11th-circuit-says/

I don't trust CNS to always get these stories right, so the decision itself is below:

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202210168.pdf

#LawFedi #legal #USpol

A man is arrested on a 26-year-old warrant describing someone looking nothing like him. This had also happened 4 years earlier, and he was quickly released. But this time, he's detained 3 days until they clear up his identity.

En banc, the #11thCircuit finds he has no due process claim. 7 judges say a SCOTUS decision forecloses. 3 say that decision doesn't apply but he loses anyway on qualified immunity. Only 1 judge finds the unreasonableness of the arrest affords him a claim.
#legal #LawFedi

In the wake of racial justice protests in #Florida, the state adopted legislation redefining the term "riot" more broadly.

Organizers sued and obtained a preliminary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the new "riot" definition on #1A grounds.

Today the #11thCircuit deferred ruling on the resulting appeal, certifying #legal questions on the interpretation of the new definition to the Florida Supreme Court. #LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202113489.cert.pdf

A divided en banc #11thCircuit, departing from earlier panel decisions, holds that a Florida school system did not violate the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX by barring a #transgender boy from using male-only bathrooms.

The majority opinion attempts to constitutionalize the distinction between classifications on the basis of "biological sex" and "discrimination on the basis of transgender status" for EP purposes.

#legal #LawFedi

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201813592.2.pdf

@MediasTouch on #11thCircuit Requiring #Cannon to Dismiss the #Trump Case ..and effectively her herself from the case. Whats Likely To Come Next. #law #appellatemastadon

https://youtu.be/H38bITfEKsg

RT @LarryPfeifferDC@twitter.com

Now that the #11thCircuit has ruled, let’s remember what really matters: Trump took 100s of classified documents, some among the most sensitive, and stored them at a non-secure closet and in his personal office at a public golf resort. I’d have been in jail for 115 days already.

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/LarryPfeifferDC/status/1598542179965739008