248 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Constitution"'.
J. Grasz finds a lower court improperly dismissed a civilian's Fourth Amendment excessive force claims against a city. The city and six police officers argued that they are entitled to qualified immunity after pepper spraying her face and beating her leg with a baton while restrained. However, the civilian sufficiently showed in court that she was "restrained and nonresistant" when the officers used force without a "penological purpose." Reversed in part.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Grasz, Filed On: May 29, 2024, Case #: 22-3248, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Barbadoro determines that amendments made to New Hampshire's education and antidiscrimination laws in 2021 violate the Fourteenth Amendment and are, therefore, unconstitutional. The educators' motion for declaratory relief against unclear viewpoint-based restrictions on their speech is granted.
Court: USDC New Hampshire, Judge: Barbadoro, Filed On: May 28, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1077, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Education
J. Dries grants the police officers' motion for summary judgment in the citizen's lawsuit claiming the officers violated his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights during an investigation that involved controlled buys by a confidential informant and led to the citizen spending 19 months in jail before charges of conspiracy to commit homicide, possession with intent to sell cocaine and possession of THC were dropped. Because it is found at this stage that the officers all had probable cause to arrest the citizen and execute their search warrant, in part due to evidence the officers claim show the citizen planning to hire the confidential informant to kill another officer, summary judgment is granted to the officers and the case is dismissed with prejudice.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Dries, Filed On: May 23, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1185, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Melloy finds a lower court properly dismissed a religious messenger's civil rights claims against a city. The civilian, who preached aloud to festival attendees on festival grounds, argued that police officers violated his free speech rights when they forced him and his associates to relocate to another area. However, the city sufficiently showed in court that the preacher violated "content-neutral restrictions" when he upset a vendor who claimed he told her customers that they were going to hell, and that three police officers were protected by qualified immunity when they moved the demonstrators to another location. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Melloy, Filed On: May 23, 2024, Case #: 22-3459, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Immunity
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J. Howell grants a preliminary injunction to the advertising nonprofit in its suit alleging that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's advertising practices guidelines improperly infringe upon protected speech. The advertiser has plausibly alleged that two of the guidelines are unreasonable and viewpoint-discriminatory, but not that it was improperly singled out because of its religious viewpoints. It has shown a likelihood of success on the merits of two of its claims. Enforcement of one of the guidelines is therefore enjoined; claims regarding the other are dismissed as moot.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Howell, Filed On: May 21, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3695, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, First Amendment
J. Doughty denies summary judgment to the warden of Tensas Parish Detention Center and nurse at the jail on a state prisoner’s Eighth Amendment complaint of cruel and unusual punishment related to an estimated 12 weeks of “excruciating” toothache pain. He was unable to eat or get out of bed. In light of the warden and the nurse’s “inexplicable failure” to get the prisoner to a dentist, a reasonable jury could find they were deliberately indifferent to his untreated tooth pain.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: May 20, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv324, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Health Care
J. Trauger grants the defendant police officer's partial dismissal motion in this lawsuit brought by a driver asserting claims under Section 1983 after he was arrested following a traffic stop. The court will dismiss the driver's malicious prosecution and false arrest claims against the officer. The claims fail, since the warrant charged him with "failure to yield as well as resisting arrest" and he only challenged probable cause in connection with the resisting arrest charge.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Trauger, Filed On: May 20, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv567, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Hiland finds the circuit court improperly held certain election process laws enacted by the general assembly are unconstitutional. The laws involve signature verification, hand delivery of absentee ballots, ID requirements and penalties for unfairly influencing voters. The court did not fully address the First Amendment allows time, place and manner restrictions for content neutral restrictions, tailored to serve a significant government interest and leaving ample alternative channels open. There is no clear incompatibility between the acts and the constitution. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Hiland , Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: CV-22-190, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Elections
J. Stadtmueller finds that all of the claims in the citizen's pro se lawsuit against the Milwaukee County Clerk of Courts, the Milwaukee County Sheriff, judges and other court officials over his family law case, including those alleging false arrest, abuse of process and First Amendment violations, must be dismissed. All of the currently named defendants are dismissed and replaced with John Doe placeholders, and the citizen is given until May 29, 2024, to file a new amended complaint, or his entire lawsuit will be dismissed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1361, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Family Law
J. Stras finds a lower court properly dismissed a prison guard's motion for qualified immunity for excessive force against an inmate. The prison guard, who serves in the A-Team group at the maximum security facility, argued that he was obligated to strike the prisoner in his leg and face for failing to comply during transfer. However, the inmate presented sufficient evidence in court that the prison guard violated his Eighth Amendment rights by accosting him while he was completely restrained. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Stras, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 23-1869, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Immunity
J. Eagles partially grants a medical doctor’s motion for summary judgment in her suit against the state for its strict regulatory laws regarding Mifeprex, an abortion-inducing drug. While the FDA eased restrictions on the drug in 2007, North Carolina kept the same restrictions and added more to its own legislation, which now conflict with federal law. However, federal law in this case trumps state law. Thus, the state provisions requiring physician-only prescribing; in-person prescribing, dispensing and administering; scheduling of an in-person follow-up appointment; and non-fatal adverse event reporting are unconstitutional.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Eagles, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv77, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Health Care
J. Rosenbaum finds that the district court properly convicted defendant, the ex-sheriff of Clayton County, Georgia, of using his position to deprive pretrial detainees in his custody of their constitutional right to be free from excessive force. On six occasions, defendant had non-violent, compliant detainees handcuffed and confined to restraint chairs for hours without bathroom breaks. Defendant had fair warning that his conduct was unconstitutional. Restraint chair use qualifies as "force" and defendant's use of force was objectively excessive since the detainees were not actively resisting. There was sufficient evidence to allow the jury to find that defendant's conduct had no legitimate nonpunitive purpose and caused the detainees injuries including open wounds and scarring. The district court correctly questioned a juror after receiving reports that they refused to follow the law and properly issued two Allen charges during deliberations. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Rosenbaum, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 23-10934, Categories: constitution, Jury, civil Rights
J. Chutkan denies a motion to reconsider a determination that a search warrant, which led officers to search a house where the suspect they were seeking did not live, was valid. The court's decision not to grant the searched civilians' request for an adverse inference based on the absence of a report from the database a detective said he searched before seeking the warrant was not "outcome determinative," a school employee's statement to the detective has not been shown to be inadmissible hearsay, a form used to confirm the address was not inadmissible by reason of being unauthenticated, and the searched civilians did not timely raise issues with testimony that another officer conducted a second database search, the admission of which would have been harmless error if it was error at all.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Chutkan, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:17cv1046, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Pyle finds that the trial court properly found for prison employees in a prisoner's civil rights claims contending an employee was loud, disruptive, and disrespectful. Meanwhile, the prisoner was properly temporarily removed from employment in the law library since the prisoner's comments on the restroom policy did not constitute speech protected under the first amendment. Affirmed.
Court: Indiana Court Of Appeals, Judge: Pyle, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23A-CT-201, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Prisoners' Rights
J. Dick grants a request by the state to dismiss as moot a voting rights suit by black litigants that preceded legislative enactment of a new congressional map containing two first-ever majority-black districts. The litigants do not oppose the new congressional map but argue their case is not moot due to pending legislation in the Western District of Louisiana. State officials have sufficiently shown the earlier redistricting conduct challenged by litigants will not recur with the state’s voluntary enactment of a new congressional map with two black-majority districts.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv211, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Government
J. Erickson finds a lower court properly dismissed a case manager and a corrections employee's motion for qualified immunity concerning an inmate's Eighth Amendment claims. The case manager and the corrections employee argued that they did not act with deliberate indifference when they deprived him from obtaining toothpaste. However, the inmate sufficiently showed in court that he used his money from an inmate account to buy toothpaste, and suffered tooth decay as a result of not receiving it. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Erickson, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-3617, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Immunity
J. Palafox denies habeas relief to defendant, who argued that his Eighth Amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and charged for murder as an adult despite being only 17 at the time of the offense. Pretrial habeas relief is not available unless the asserted rights would be "undermined if not vindicated before trial," which is not the case here. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Palafox, Filed On: April 22, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00154-CR, Categories: constitution, Juvenile Law, civil Rights
J. Palafox denies habeas relief to defendant, who argued that his Eighth Amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and charged for murder as an adult despite being only 17 at the time. Pretrial habeas relief is not available unless the asserted rights would be “undermined if not vindicated before trial,” which is not the case here. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Palafox, Filed On: April 22, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00159-CR, Categories: constitution, Juvenile Law, civil Rights