Slip opinion No. 25-1285
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —General
- ¶1 New opinion from U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- ¶2 Case decided on 2026-08-07
- ¶3 See full opinion for details
Slip opinion No. 25-1336
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —General
- ¶1 New opinion from U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- ¶2 Case decided on 2026-08-07
- ¶3 See full opinion for details
Slip opinion No. 25-1691
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —Federal Sentencing
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit affirms 24-month revocation sentence, exceeding joint recommendation, based on permissible deterrence and public safety concerns
- ¶2 Standard supervised release condition requiring notification of 'risks' to third parties held unconstitutionally vague and remanded for revision
- ¶3 Useful for federal criminal defense and appellate attorneys handling supervised release revocations, plea agreement breach claims, and vagueness challenges to release conditions
Slip opinion No. 25-1856
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Civil Rights and Section 1983
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit denies qualified immunity for official's viewpoint-based deletion of comments from town website
- ¶2 Municipalities cannot pursue interlocutory qualified-immunity appeals; that defense protects only individual officials, not entities
- ¶3 Useful for §1983 and First Amendment litigators handling government social media, public comment forums, and qualified immunity defenses
Slip opinion No. 25-3131
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —General
- ¶1 New opinion from U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- ¶2 Case decided on 2026-08-07
- ¶3 See full opinion for details
Slip opinion No. 24-1822
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —General
- ¶1 New opinion from U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- ¶2 Case decided on 2026-08-07
- ¶3 See full opinion for details
Slip opinion No. 24-2230
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —General
- ¶1 New opinion from U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- ¶2 Case decided on 2026-08-07
- ¶3 See full opinion for details
Slip opinion No. 24-2236
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —White Collar Crime
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit affirms fraud convictions, holding untimely Sixth Amendment asset-restraint challenges require plain-error review with defendant's burden of proof.
- ¶2 Court finds harmless error in admitting witnesses' grand jury testimony under FRE 801(d)(1)(B) despite improper failure to tailor statements predating fabrication motives.
- ¶3 Essential reading for white-collar defense counsel on pretrial asset freezes, counsel-of-choice challenges, and preserving evidentiary objections to grand jury testimony.
Slip opinion No. 24-2744
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —Criminal Procedure
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit holds visible tinted windows alone establish reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop, regardless of officers' inconsistent stated reasons
- ¶2 Brief warrantless opening of a car door to retrieve a firearm in plain view was a lawful protective search under Terry/Long/Buie given suspect's flight and safety concerns
- ¶3 Useful for criminal defense and Fourth Amendment practitioners litigating suppression motions involving traffic stops, protective vehicle searches, or requests for evidentiary hearings
Slip opinion No. 23-3198
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —Federal Sentencing
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit holds no actual attorney conflict existed years after a stale, unconfirmed investigation into defense counsel's conduct
- ¶2 Court reaffirms that § 2255 conflict-of-interest claims require proof of adverse effect on performance, not mere speculation about alternative strategies
- ¶3 Useful for federal criminal defense attorneys handling § 2255 ineffective assistance claims and appellate waiver enforcement issues
Slip opinion No. 24-3164
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Employment Discrimination
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit holds informal, undocumented accommodations satisfy the ADA when they achieve the accommodation's practical 'ends,' not just its procedural 'means.'
- ¶2 Court affirms summary judgment where plaintiff attacked witness credibility but offered no affirmative evidence contradicting the employer's account of accommodation timing.
- ¶3 Useful for employment defense counsel litigating failure-to-accommodate claims and for civil litigators addressing proximate causation and credibility-based opposition to summary judgment.
Slip opinion No. 25-1120
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Business Law
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit holds BIPA §§ 15(a) and (b) both require a defendant to have gained or exerted actual control over biometric data, not merely provided a tool.
- ¶2 Manufacturer that supplies device/software generating and storing biometric data locally on a user's own device does not thereby 'possess,' 'collect,' 'capture,' or 'obtain' that data under BIPA.
- ¶3 Useful for defense-side privacy litigators and tech companies facing BIPA claims premised on device features that create biometric data stored locally rather than on company servers.
Slip opinion No. 25-1670
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Property Law
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit holds railroad easements under Indiana law don't include right to exclude third parties from air/ground space absent operational disruption.
- ¶2 Court rejects continuing-trespass theory, holding limitations periods run from initial cable installation, not from ongoing presence of infrastructure.
- ¶3 Essential reading for utility, telecom, and railroad counsel litigating easement scope, licensing rights, and trespass statute-of-limitations disputes under Indiana law.
Slip opinion No. 25-1755
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Civil Rights and Section 1983
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit grants qualified immunity to officials who fired a 'policymaker' town administrator over politically disloyal speech to investigators.
- ¶2 Court identifies three unresolved ambiguities in the Elrod-Branti 'policymaker corollary' doctrine, precluding a finding of clearly established law.
- ¶3 Essential reading for civil rights attorneys litigating First Amendment retaliation claims by public employees deemed policymakers, and for municipal defense counsel raising qualified immunity.
Slip opinion No. 25-1808
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Civil Rights and Section 1983
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit grants qualified immunity because the 'policymaker corollary' to Elrod-Branti remains unsettled on speech-based retaliation claims.
- ¶2 Court affirms rejection of cross-claims: retaliatory prosecution requires state action/no probable cause; class-of-one requires an identified comparator.
- ¶3 Useful for public-sector employment attorneys litigating First Amendment retaliation claims by policymaker-level employees and asserting/defending qualified immunity.
Slip opinion No. 25-2081
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Criminal —Criminal Procedure
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit affirms denial of § 2255 relief: no actual conflict of interest existed, and even assuming one, it caused no adverse effect on counsel's performance.
- ¶2 Appellate waiver in plea agreement barred challenge to denial of motions to dismiss for selective/vindictive prosecution, since those claims fell outside the narrow carve-out for plea validity and sentencing.
- ¶3 Useful for criminal defense and habeas practitioners litigating attorney conflict-of-interest claims under § 2255 and for drafting/enforcing appellate waivers in plea agreements.
Slip opinion No. 25-2604
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit · Civil —Tort Law
- ¶1 Seventh Circuit affirms exclusion of design-defect expert who never tested his alternative design or addressed cost, compatibility, or safety tradeoffs.
- ¶2 Failure-to-warn claim fails without evidence of an alternative warning that would have prevented injury, even absent expert testimony.
- ¶3 Useful for product liability defense counsel challenging Rule 702 expert testimony and causation gaps in Illinois failure-to-warn claims.