U.S. Sixth Circuit

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the First Amendment rights of student-athletes at Western Michigan University were "likely violated" by the school's COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

Legislation and litigation are increasingly testing the boundaries of Supreme Court precedent regarding abortions. In part, perhaps, because the analysis courts use to weigh the constitutionality of laws restricting abortion access are less clear than they have been in decades. In 2020, Justice Roberts joined with liberal justices in holding that Louisiana's abortion law was unconstitutional in June Medical. However, Justice Roberts differed in his analysis from the plurality.

The Lion's Den, an adult store in Upton, Kentucky, gets most of its business from interstate travelers. That is why it relies in part on advertising to motorists traveling on I-65. Perhaps some of our readers may have noticed a sign on the side of a semi tractor-trailer just off Exit 251 reminding passerby that for the “Lion's Den Adult Superstore Exit Now". The sign is not itself obscene, but nonetheless raised alarm.

Religious and private schools in Kentucky did not go back to in-person classes this week due to a decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that sided with Governor Andy Beshear. Earlier this month, the governor issued an executive order prohibiting in-person classes at all Kentucky schools from November 23 through December 13.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit filed by the family of Henry Green against Columbus Police officers Zachary Rosen and Jason Bare, who fatally shot Green in 2016. The officers claim Green shot at them and they returned fire, but witnesses say the plainclothes officers did not identify themselves as police before the shootout began. In 2017, the officers were cleared by an internal investigation, and a grand jury declined to indict them for their use of deadly force.

Adding color to your legal writing is a good idea. Vivid imagery and analogies can make a legal point stick in the minds of judges. But there is a line that you don't want to cross as an attorney, which is exemplified by a recent opinion issued by the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Circuit drew the line at saying your opponent is "affixing its buzzard-like grin . . . ready to ravenously pounce upon the medical facilities in these areas like the buzzard swoops down upon the carcass of a dead cow.