Case Law Blog

Navejas v. City of El Paso, No. 25-51061 (5th Cir. Oct. 8, 2026) United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Affirmed — Summary judgment in favor of the officer and municipality. TL;DR The Fifth Circuit upheld qualified immunity for an El Paso police officer who deployed his Taser once against a 70-year-old man suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease during a domestic violence investigation. Although the man died after falling following the deployment, the co

United States v. Carson, No. 25-4200 (4th Cir. July 8, 2026) TL;DR Police stopped a vehicle because the driver had a suspended license. Within seconds of arriving, another officer smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle and then observed a digital scale with white residue inside. Officers searched the vehicle and ordered the occupants out. One passenger, Jermaine Carson, was frisked. During the frisk, Carson told the officer he had a gun, and officers recovered a loaded Glo

United States v. Belmonte Cardozo, No. 25-4239 (4th Cir. July 13, 2026) TL;DR A traveler arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport from Bolivia was stopped for a customs inspection. A CBP officer asked him to unlock two iPhones. He complied. The officer manually opened the photo galleries, navigated to the phones’ hidden-photo folders, and discovered illegal images within approximately two minutes. The defendant moved to suppress, arguing that the significant privac

United States v. Drayton, No. 24-2519 (8th Cir. July 13, 2026) TL;DR Police investigating a suspected methamphetamine trafficker watched him engage in what appeared to be multiple drug transactions throughout the day. Later, officers saw another person place a bag into his vehicle. An officer involved in the surveillance followed the suspect onto the interstate, observed him hit the fog line three times, and initiated a traffic stop. While the stopping officer was still proce

United States v. Williams, No. 24-4512 (4th Cir. July 7, 2026) TL;DR Police received an anonymous 911 report that a light-skinned male with braids was sitting in a white Mercedes near an apartment-complex pool and “appears to be making drug transactions.” Two officers responded in separate marked police vehicles. The officers intended to make a voluntary encounter. But instead of parking in available spaces, they simultaneously stopped their patrol vehicles in the roadway, wi

Steger v. Willis, No. 25-6006 (6th Cir. July 21, 2026) TL;DR Police responded to a theft complaint and encountered the suspect standing behind an iron gate on his own front porch. The encounter became heated. The suspect refused to provide identification, told officers to get off his property, and ultimately yelled, “Fuck you!” at one of the officers. According to the plaintiff’s version of events—which the court was required to accept at the qualified-immunity stage—the offi

Hayat v. Diaz, No. 25-1235 (4th Cir. Aug. 20, 2026) TL;DR Police received a priority kidnapping call after an eyewitness reported seeing a man put three children into the trunk of a vehicle. Officers traced the vehicle to Fareed Hayat's home and approached him while he and his wife were outside. The encounter initially was consensual. But after officers questioned Hayat about the reported kidnapping, he refused to answer certain questions, prevented his wife from continuing t

Massimino v. Benoit, No. 25-1104 (2d Cir. Aug. 17, 2026) TL;DR The Second Circuit held that the First Amendment protects the right to record law enforcement activity in public, including publicly visible areas of a police station from a public sidewalk. But that did not mean officers were prohibited from investigating the person doing the recording. Recording a police station, standing alone, was not enough to establish reasonable suspicion. Here, however, additional circumst