U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Summit Locations’ suit because Summit lacked Article III standing to challenge the township’s off‑premises sign ban. The court held that even if that ban were invalidated, other zoning provisions would still prohibit the billboard, so no redressable injury…

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the National Labor Relations Board’s finding that VNS Federal Services, LLC violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the NLRA by discharging Israel Bo Sword in retaliation for his protected concerted activity.

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentences of seven members and associates of the Clarksville, Tennessee chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, who were convicted after a joint 38-day trial on RICO conspiracy, drug-trafficking, money-laundering, kidnapping, VICAR murder, and firearm counts arising from…

The court affirmed summary judgment for all defendants on a quadriplegic applicant’s claims arising from the administrative closure of her foster-parent application. It held that the defendants properly considered the challenged declaration and affidavit, that sovereign immunity barred several claims, and that the…

The court held that abstention was improper because the university's disciplinary process remained at a preliminary investigative stage and no formal proceeding or complaint was underway.

The court held that Perry’s federal claims were timely because Michigan’s class-action tolling rule applied from the filing of the earlier class action through his opt-out from its settlement.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the City on all claims. It held that the City's 2023 resolution converted the flagpoles into a government-speech program, that the Establishment Clause claim failed even under the secular-purpose framework invoked by the plaintiffs, and that the equal-protection claim was…

The court held that the district court improperly rejected OPERS’s price-maintenance theory, which supports market efficiency, reliance, and loss-causation theories in this securities-fraud action.

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of Judge King's motion to dismiss, holding that the allegations plausibly showed his treatment of ELG involved nonjudicial acts performed outside his judicial capacity and therefore was not protected by absolute judicial immunity at the pleading stage.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the prison officials on Julick’s Eighth Amendment excessive-force and conditions-of-confinement claims. It held that the pepper spray was used in a good-faith effort to obtain compliance and caused only de minimis discomfort, and that the alleged ten-day conditions did not…

The court affirmed Neal's 292-month sentence, holding that his two sexual assaults were relevant conduct because they occurred during the charged two-year enticement offense. The assaults properly supported the cross-reference to the sex-abuse guideline, the related enhancements did not impermissibly double count, and…

The court affirmed Clay's 151-month sentence and upheld all three Guidelines enhancements: reckless endangerment, possession of a firearm in connection with another felony, and possession of a stolen firearm.

The court affirmed dismissal of the medical providers’ negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims because they were expressly preempted by ERISA. The claims depended on oral representations about the reimbursement terms of an ERISA plan and sought payment at a rate allegedly promised under that plan.

The court denied Torres-Jimenez's petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of his motion to reopen and terminate removal proceedings. It held that he failed to make the required prima facie showing for adjustment of status because his motion provided only bare references to pending VAWA and…

The court affirmed Brazzell’s convictions, holding that the pills and rifle were admissible under the inevitable-discovery doctrine because officers would have found them during a lawful inventory search conducted before towing his vehicle.

The court affirmed Barber’s convictions and 150-month sentence. It held that the agent permissibly interpreted coded drug-trafficking language, that the controlled-buy video contained no hearsay statements barred by the Confrontation Clause, and that Barber failed to show plain error in the drug-quantity calculation…

The court granted in part the motion to expedite but denied the petition for rehearing en banc because fewer than a majority of the judges voted to rehear the case. The order left undisturbed the panel's decision concerning the government's request for Michigan voting records and did not resolve the underlying…

The court held that SW Nashville's takings and due-process claims were ripe because Metro's indefinite development hold was an actual, concrete property-use decision causing present financial injury, not merely an unresolved permit application.

The court affirmed the denial of West's Rule 60(b)(6) motion because reopening his prior habeas judgment would be futile: any new challenge to his life sentence would be untimely under the one-year limitations period and procedurally barred.

The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Michigan officials because the American Freedom Law Center failed to produce evidence establishing Article III standing. The organization did not show that the officials' press release caused incremental reputational harm, that it suffered economic injury traceable to…

The court affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to the city manager on Washington's procedural due process claim, holding that the city charter gave him for-cause removal protection after six months and that the memorandum he signed did not clearly and unmistakably waive those rights.

The court affirmed the denial of Thomas’s federal habeas petition concerning his plea-related due process and ineffective-assistance claims. Applying AEDPA deference, the court held that the state court reasonably rejected claims that counsel failed to explain the appellate waiver or sentencing exposure and that…

The court affirmed dismissal of Antol’s Fourth Amendment unlawful-search claims because, even after accounting for alleged inaccuracies and omissions, the warrant affidavit established probable cause to search his residence.

The court affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to Officer Terrance Moore because the evidence, viewed favorably to Phelps, would allow a reasonable jury to find that Phelps was not actively resisting when Moore tased him repeatedly and that the force was excessive under the Fourth Amendment.

The court held that it had jurisdiction to review Yonan's challenge to the BIA's legal standard despite his criminal removability. It granted the petition, vacated the BIA's denial of Yonan's third motion to reopen, and remanded because the BIA evaluated changed country conditions against conditions arising after the…

The court affirmed the denial of Beemath's 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion, concluding that the record did not require an evidentiary hearing on his ineffective-assistance claim. Even assuming counsel advised him that a good-faith defense was unavailable, that advice was not shown to be deficient under the circumstances, and…

The court affirmed summary judgment for the institutional defendants and Dale Osborn on Davis's failure-to-train, custom-of-acquiescence, negligent-hiring, and supervisory-liability claims.

The court held that the Government proved by clear and convincing evidence that Wagner posed a danger to J.S. and the community, and that no combination of release conditions could reasonably assure public safety.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the corrections officers because Arthur was not subjected to a Fourth Amendment seizure during the voluntary hostage-training exercise. The officers intended to practice a rescue maneuver, not to restrain Arthur, and they never acquired actual control over her through a show of…

The Sixth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's grant of summary judgment to U.S. Bank. The court reversed summary judgment on Pannek's and Strotman's Title VII retaliation claims, holding that a genuine dispute of material fact exists as to whether U.S.

The Sixth Circuit denied Spindola's petition for review of the BIA's decision barring him from asylum and withholding of removal under the serious-nonpolitical-crime bar and denying CAT deferral of removal.

The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of qualified immunity to New Holland police chief William Lawless on Cody Henderson's surviving Fourth Amendment and malicious-prosecution claims.

After the Postal Service stopped delivering mail directly to the Kleins' and Havens' properties on Hillman Ridge Road in Brown County, Ohio, the property owners sued asserting a 'class of one' equal-protection claim.

The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of qualified immunity to a corrections officer who, after an inmate orally complained of chest pain and asked to go to healthcare, ordered him back to his cell; the inmate was taken to the medical wing eight minutes later and suffered a heart attack about an hour…

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's affirmance of a bankruptcy court order avoiding, as a constructively fraudulent transfer under 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(1)(B)(i), Jason Wylie's 2019 quitclaim of property to his mother Kathleen Sullivan shortly before his Chapter 7 filing.

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of Demond Liles's federal habeas petition. Liles argued that the state breached his plea agreement by advocating for a lengthy sentence despite agreeing to make no sentencing recommendation, but he procedurally defaulted that claim by failing to object at sentencing.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the University and its administrators. It held that Title IX's protection for a “person in the United States” is geographically limited and does not cover a United States citizen residing abroad when the alleged discrimination occurred.

The Sixth Circuit vacated the district court's $1,361,476.51 attorney-fee award in two consolidated Takings Clause suits against Oakland County, holding that counsel's request — more than 4,800 hours seeking $4.2 million — was pervasively unreasonable and contained “not a trace” of the billing judgment that…

The Sixth Circuit held that GateHouse Media's February 2025 re-removal of a CAFA class action was untimely because the plaintiffs' 2019 complaint, which contained solid and unambiguous information of removability, had already triggered the 30-day removal clock under 28 U.S.C.

The Sixth Circuit affirmed Hugo Benavides's 96-month within-Guidelines sentence imposed after his guilty plea to cocaine conspiracy. The panel upheld the U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1) firearms enhancement because the conspiracy was ongoing when Benavides possessed firearms at his mother's home, he failed to prove withdrawal…