Justia Constitutional Law Opinion Summaries

The First Circuit reversed the decision of the district court granting Defendant's motion to suppress the evidence discovered during an inventory search of a vehicle that a Massachusetts State Police trooper stopped on a highway, holding that the trooper had reasonable suspicion to make the stop.In his motion to suppress, Defendant argued that the warrantless search of his vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment. In response, the government argued that the inventory search fell within the community caretaking function. The district court disagreed, holding that there was no non-investigatory reason to conduct the inventory search. The First Circuit reversed, holding that the district court erred in granting Defendant's motion to suppress. View "United States v. Rivera" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court revoking Defendant's supervised release and sentencing him to six months of imprisonment and an additional eight years of supervised release, holding that Defendant's constitutional rights were not violated.On appeal, Defendant argued that the revocation of his release violated his privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and that his suspension from treatment violated his Fifth Amendment due process right. The First Circuit disagreed, holding (1) a court in this circuit can impose mandatory periodic polygraph examinations in connection with sex offender treatment programs as a condition of supervised release, where the condition prohibits basing revocation in any way on the defendant's assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination; (2) in this case, no penalty was attached to Defendant's potential invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege, and therefore, his privilege was not violated; and (3) Defendant's suspension from sex offender treatment did not violate his Fifth Amendment right to due process. View "United States v. Rogers" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, holding that the district court did not err in concluding that the police officers had reasonable suspicion to approach the vehicle in which Defendant was a passenger and direct its occupants to exit.Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence of cash and drugs that were recovered from him and the other occupant of the car after officers instigated an investigatory motor vehicle stop. The district court denied the motion, holding that reasonable suspicion existed to support the traffic stop. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the police officers had reasonable suspicion that the vehicle's occupants were involved in illegal drug activity, and therefore, the officers' decision to approach the car and search Defendant did not violate the Fourth Amendment. View "United States v. Tom" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence imposed after he pled guilty to six counts stemming from a robbery of a federal confidential informant during a guns-for-cash deal, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.Specifically, the First Circuit held (1) Defendant's challenge based on Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), to his conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g), was without merit; (2) Defendant's challenge to the plea colloquy failed; (3) Defendant's challenge based upon United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), to the acceptance of his plea to aiding and abetting the use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2, 924(c), failed on plain error review; (4) the prosecutor did not breach plea agreement; and (5) Defendant's sentence of 198 months' imprisonment was neither procedurally nor substantively unreasonable. View "United States v. Farmer" on Justia Law

In this civil action brought by plaintiffs seeking to enjoin policies governing searches of electronic devices at the United States' borders, the First Circuit found no violations of either the Fourth Amendment or the First Amendment.The border search policies challenged her allow border agents to perform basic searches of electronic devices without reasonable suspicion and advanced searches with reasonable suspicion. The First Circuit joined the Eleventh Circuit in holding that advanced searches of electronic devices at the border do not require a warrant or probable cause and joined the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits in holding that basic border searches of electronic devices are routine searches that may be performed without reasonable suspicion. The Court then affirmed in part, reversed in part and vacated in part the judgment of the district court, holding that the court erred in narrowing the scope of permissible searches of electronic devices at the border. View "Alasaad v. Wolf" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of committing, or aiding and abetting others in committing, the crimes of RICO conspiracy, drug conspiracy, and other crimes, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.After Defendant was originally convicted the First Circuit vacated the convictions, concluding that the police lacked probable cause to search Defendant's house, and therefore, the seized evidence should have been suppressed. On remand, a jury again convicted Defendant of the relevant charges. Defendant appealed, claiming trial error and sentencing issues. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Defendant's claims of trial error were without merit; (2) there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions; (3) the trial court did not err in instructing the jury; (4) there was no abuse of discretion in the denial of Defendant's motion for a new trial; and (5) Defendant's sentence was not procedurally unreasonable. View "United States v. Cruz-Ramos" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of the City of Boston and the Commissioner of Boston's Property Management Department (collectively, the City) as to Plaintiffs' complaint that the City violated their constitutional rights by refusing to fly a Christian flag from a flagpole at Boston City Hall, holding that Plaintiffs' constitutional claims failed.Specifically, the First Circuit held (1) Plaintiffs' argument that the City's permitting process for the raising of third-party flags vests in government officials unbridled discretion to approve and deny protected speech and thus imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech was foreclosed by the government speech doctrine; and (2) Plaintiffs' remaining claims under the Establishment Clause and the Equal Protection Clause were without merit. View "Shurtleff v. City of Boston" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Petitioner's petition under 28 U.S.C. 2255 to vacate his sentence on the basis that he received ineffective assistance of counsel regarding his rejection of a plea offer, holding that Petitioner failed to show prejudice from any deficient performance by counsel.After a jury trial, Petitioner was found guilty of several charges arising out of a drug enterprise operating in a public housing project. Acting pro se, Petitioner filed a timely petition for postconviction relief, claiming that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. The district court denied the petition. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Petitioner's counsel's performance was deficient when counsel failed to give Petitioner sufficient time to consider a plea offer and failed to advise him of the exposure to a life sentence; but (2) Petitioner failed to satisfy the prejudice prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). View "Feliciano-Rodriguez v. United States" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court granting summary judgment against Plaintiff, acting as the personal representative of the estate of Ambrosia Fagre (Amber), on claims related to Amber's death, holding that the district court did not err when it granted Trooper Jeffrey Parks's motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff's 42 U.S.C. 1983 claim.Plaintiff's complaint alleged use of excessive force against Amber in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments under section 1983 and use of excessive force against Amber in violation of Me. Const. art. I, 5 under the Maine Civil Rights Act, failure to protect Amber in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and negligence and wrongful death under Maine state law. The district court granted Trooper Parks's motion for summary judgment. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) summary judgment on Plaintiff's section 1983 claim was warranted, and Trooper Parks was also entitled to qualified immunity; and (2) the district court did not err by granting summary judgment on Plaintiff's state law claims because Trooper Parks was entitled to immunity under the Maine Tort Claims Act, Me. Stat. Tit. 14, 8111(1). View "Fagre v. Parks" on Justia Law

The First Circuit vacated Defendants' convictions for their roles in an expansive drug-trafficking conspiracy, holding that the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions but the trial was rendered unfair due to repeated, one-sided intercessions by the trial judge.The primary challenge of all four defendants on appeal was that they were entitled to a new trial because, throughout the eleven-day jury trial, the district court judge interjected during witness testimony in a manner that signaled an anti-defense bias to the jury and caused Defendants prejudice. The First Circuit agreed, holding that the trial judge's perceptible partiality impaired the integrity and fairness of the trial and that this judicial misconduct infringed upon all Defendants' right to a fair trial. View "United States v. Raymundi-Hernandez" on Justia Law