The Latest Breaking News from Fifth Circuit

Rare gems, neutral judges, and a blindsided referee.

A study of the Fifth Circuit's en banc decisions over the past four years.

Interstate wine shipping, illegal traffic fines, and internet-ordained preachers.

A federal statute imposes liability for conspiracies "to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner" for the election of federal candidates, or for "injur[ing] any citizen in person or property on account of…

Well, at least from the U.S District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.

The Supreme Court has just vacated the Fifth Circuit's stay of a district court's preliminary injunction against HB20, Texas's new social media law by a 5-4 vote. Justice Alito (joined by Justices Gorsuch and Thomas) wrote a dissent. (Justice Kagan also noted that she would deny the stay, but did…

Justices Thomas and Gorsuch join Justice Alito's dissent, and Justice Kagan disagreed with the majority without opinion. This is not a decision on the merits of the law, but Justice Alito's dissent notes why the answer to the merits question is "quite unclear."

Jury trials, bench trials, and prospective insurrections.

If you had any doubt that Republican objections to judicial activism would melt away if conservative judges gained the upper hand, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and some of the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in Texas, should put it to rest.