[Eugene Volokh] Short Circuit: A roundup of recent federal court decisions

(Here is the latest edition of the Institute for Justice’s weekly Short Circuit newsletter.)

Medallions to own or lease taxis were once an investment that outpaced gold and the Dow. Thanks to competition from Uber and Lyft, their value is now freefalling nationwide. Instead of preserving the taxi industry’s cartel, cities should scrap the medallion system entirely and liberalize taxi markets, argues Nick Sibilla.

This week on the podcast: Special guest Erica Smith drops by to discuss a ban on sex toys, (continued) IRS misconduct, an FEC regulation that (likely) runs afoul of the First Amendment, and a truthful endodontist.

• District court, without further explanation, imposes sentencing conditions forbidding sex offender from having any contact with children or taking employment (without approval from a probation officer) that would bring him into contact with minors. First Circuit: The reason for the employment ban is obvious from his criminal history, but there’s no apparent reason to ban contact with all children. Remand for resentencing.
• Aggrieved plaintiffs sue the United Nations for its alleged role in causing or failing to prevent the cholera epidemic in Haiti, but the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations says that the UN is immune from suit in American courts. Second Circuit: Yeah, the UN is immune from suit in American courts.
• Plaintiffs: Widener University School of Law juked its employment statistics and defrauded students into paying higher tuition — certify a class action! Third Circuit: While happy law students may all be alike, every unhappy law student will be unhappy in their own way. Class certification denied.
• Appellant famous comedian asks the court to “reseal” embarrassing depositions that have been widely disseminated on the internet, but the Third Circuit declines to close the barn door after the horse has already gone viral.
• Defendant: Sure, I may have sold millions of dollars in phony promissory notes, but I shouldn’t be subject to a sentencing enhancement because I wasn’t technically acting as an “investment adviser” at the time. Third Circuit: You were so.
• Kim Dotcom stands accused of a “Mega Conspiracy” to violate copyright laws. The U.S. government moved to forfeit $75 million held in bank accounts in New Zealand and Hong Kong. Fourth Circuit: Federal courts can forfeit this money even though it is out of the country, and Dotcom is barred from challenging the forfeiture because he refuses to come to the U.S. (a country in which he has never once set foot) in order to stand trial.
• Plaintiff, a deputy sheriff, was fired after he gave media interviews claiming the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office covered up the truth about an incident in which he was shot in the face while executing a search warrant — supposedly by the target of the warrant but, plaintiff claims, actually by a fellow officer. Fourth Circuit: If true, that would violate the First Amendment and qualified immunity would not apply.
• Small tax preparation firm has an anti-Midas touch: Almost all their clients suffer significant business losses every year. Fifth Circuit: A jury found tax fraud, and that seems reasonable to us.
• Competing manufacturers of shaved ice confections have a decade-long history of litigation, each seeking to freeze the other out of the sno-ball market. Fifth Circuit: No, it really, really, really isn’t RICO.
• Tennessee Valley Authority pension fund eliminates cost of living adjustments following 2008 financial crash. Plaintiffs sue, claiming a violation of the Takings Clause, and the pension fund concedes a violation occurred. Sixth Circuit: There was no Takings Clause violation, and we decline to defer to the government’s contrary concession.
• Jamaican seeks asylum on the ground that he will face persecution because of his bisexuality, but immigration judge re