Circuit Splits Reported in U.S. Law Week—March 2024

U.S. Law Week summarizes selected splits among U.S. federal courts of appeals each month.

Criminal Law

Case:

United States v. Dubois, 2024 BL 72538 (Article)

Issue:

Do laws that disqualify felons from possessing firearms violate the Second Amendment? The Eleventh Circuit sides with the Eighth and Tenth circuits, saying that they don’t. The Third Circuit says that they do.

Criminal Law

Case:

Richards v. Perttu, 2024 BL 91017 (Article)

Issue:

Is an inmate entitled to a jury trial when the issue whether he exhausted his administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act will resolve a genuine dispute of material fact regarding the merits of his substantive case? The Sixth Circuit says yes, but the Seventh Circuit says no.

Health Care

Case:

Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. Kerr, 2024 BL 72329 (Article)

Issue:

Can a Medicaid beneficiary use 42 U.S.C. §1983 to enforce her right under the Medicaid Act to freely choose among healthcare providers? The Fourth Circuit agrees with the Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth circuits, saying that she can. The Fifth and Eighth circuits say that there’s no private right of action under the Medicaid Act to enforce the free choice of provider provision.

Postal Service

Case:

Konan v. US Postal Serv., 2024 BL 94039 (Article)

Issue:

Does the postal-matter exception to the Federal Tort Claim Act, which retains sovereign immunity for any claim arsing out of the “loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter,” apply to intentional acts? The Fifth Circuit says that the exception doesn’t encompass the intentional act of not delivering mail. The First, Second, and Eighth circuits say that the exception does apply to intentional acts.

Property

Case:

Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, 2024 BL 83188 (Article)

Issue:

May courts in takings clause cases look into whether the taking was made in good faith? The Second Circuit says no, but the dissent points out that the Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth circuits say yes.

Torts

Case:

Estate of Van Emburgh v. United States, 2024 BL 81491 (Article)

Issue:

Can an agency regulation create jurisdictional requirements under the Federal Tort Claims Act in addition to those imposed by the statute? The Fourth Circuit joins the D.C., Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh circuits, saying that the FTCA alone imposes the jurisdictional requirements. The Eighth Circuit disagrees.