Earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit issued a decision addressing a constitutional challenge to the practice of “chalking” the tires of parked cars for parking enforcement purposes. As we noted, that decision garnered a lot of attention from the national media. Yesterday, the Court issued an amended opinion clarifying the scope of its ruling. The … Continue Reading
It’s not often that a dispute over parking tickets ends up in federal court. But that’s exactly what happened this week in Taylor v. City of Saginaw – a case that has already drawn the attention of the national media. Taylor involved a challenge to “a common parking enforcement practice known as ‘chalking,’ whereby City parking … Continue Reading
In D.E. v. Doe (15-2128), the Sixth Circuit upheld the conviction of a teenager who “took a wrong turn on his way to summer camp.” When he reached the Canadian border, he asked permission to turn around without crossing the border—but had his car searched instead. The opinion written by Judge Rogers holds that a … Continue Reading
Last week, the Sixth Circuit handed down a decision in closely-watched criminal case that potentially has significant ramifications for the Fourth Amendment’s protection of digital data from warrantless searches, and possibly creates a space for the Supreme Court to again weigh in on this issue. In United States v. Lichtenberger, the Sixth Circuit largely removed … Continue Reading
A Sixth Circuit panel unanimously held last week in Williams v. City of Cleveland that pretrial detainees forced to “undress in the presence of other detainees and to have their naked genitals sprayed with delousing solution” stated a viable claim under § 1983 and the Fourth Amendment. Judge Griffin wrote the opinion in which Judges Siler … Continue Reading
In an interesting criminal case, United States v. Skinner (09-6497), the Sixth Circuit rejected a Fourth Amendment challenge by a convicted drug runner based on the government’s tracking of location data from his cell phone. Judge Rogers’ opinion chronicles the efforts by government authorities to investigate a multi-state drug operation that utilized “pay as you go” cell phones … Continue Reading