Louisiana Police Buffer-Zone Law Appears to Split Fifth Circuit

An appellate panel appeared divided on whether to allow Louisiana to enforce a criminal law giving police officers the power to command a 25-foot buffer zone when engaged in official duties.

During oral argument Monday at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Judge Stephen A. Higginson compared Louisiana’s law negatively with buffer-zone laws that have been enacted by other states, saying each one — including an Indiana law blocked by the Seventh Circuit last year — contains more specificity.

Louisiana is appealing a federal district court’s order temporarily blocking the law as void for vagueness. It had ...