Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal

Tear gas in your home! Pepper balls in your face! But no carte blanche for your LinkedIn.

Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.

New news! This month, IJ client Libby Souder asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to let her resume teaching private swim lessons in her backyard pool, which she'd done for years with city approval and without incident. But after a nosy neighbor (whose life is in no way affected by the lessons) complained, officials reinterpreted an ambiguous provision of the zoning code to shut down Libby's business. Click here to learn more.

New on the Short Circuit podcast: Baltimore police can use a "Hailstorm" device to stimulate your cell phone and figure out where you are. Do they need a warrant for that?

1. President to Voice of America's head: You're fired! VOA head: Only the International Broadcasting Advisory Board can fire me. DOJ: But unitary executive! D.C. Circuit: The president can now sack members of the board at will, and that is enough to satisfy Article II, even if it may cause some delay while the president gets his preferred board members confirmed for them to then sack their subordinates.
2. In which the Second Circuit revives a challenge to New York City rules that prohibit people from, among other things, carrying more than one handgun at a time and registering more than two handguns. 
3. In which the Second Circuit overrules precedent and holds that if your prosecution comes to an end in the form of an "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal," you can indeed pursue malicious-prosecution claims. (This plaintiff's claim fails on other grounds, however.)
4. In investigating a leak of classified information to a news outlet, the feds seek orders compelling LinkedIn to turn over records of all the involved journalists' communications over an 18-month period (including with all confidential sources) and to keep it a secret. LinkedIn challenges the orders. Fourth Circuit: The gov't "is entitled to a disclosure order," "[b]ut it is not entitled to carte blanche." Remand for district court to narrow the disclosures to communications actually relevant to the leak in question and to provide a little secrecy wiggle-room.
5. Lowell, Mich. mom frequently denounces public school policies and personnel on social media. School officials do not interfere until she posts: "Christ said, 'Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and drowned in the depth of the sea.'" After that, she's told to stop posting about school employees by name or face legal consequences. Sixth Circuit (2-1): Which might have violated her 1A rights; claim undismissed.
6. The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) restricts prisoners from filing lawsuits in forma pauperis if they have three or more "strikes"—i.e., actions dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim. Sixth Circuit: But that doesn't cover cases dismissed on the grounds of sovereign immunity or failure to prosecute. So this lawsuit can go forward. Concurrence: But Congress really should count those. And until they do, here are some tips on how district courts can deal with prisoners who try to make their lawsuits "strike proof."
7. Do people living in an apartment complex near an ICE facility in Portland, Ore. have a substantive due process right to be free from tear gas seeping into their homes? Ninth Circuit: That sure doesn't seem to appear in our nation's history or traditions. Dissent: Plaintiffs need only show that the conduct shocks the conscience. And since there's some evidence ICE deployed the tear gas to create content for social media, this should qualify.
8. Okay, but do peaceful protestors and journalists in Portland have a First Amendment right not to be shot in the face with pepper balls by ICE agents in ambiguously marked uniforms? Ninth Circuit: They do not. Dissent: In the face? They should really only be doing that in situations where they would be allowed to use lethal force.
9. Federal law exempts plaintiffs from mandatory arbitration if they allege a sexual-harassment claim, which means (according to two-thirds of this Ninth Circuit panel) that SpaceX employees who complained about Elon Musk's propensity for prurient tweets get to stay in federal court.
10. Ninth Circuit: Look, we're not necessarily saying a city violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to exempt a woman from its prohibition on sleeping in cars after she informs officials that her OCD sometimes requires her to sleep in her car. But we're definitely saying her complaint states a viable ADA claim.
11. California enacts two laws that require companies to disclose information about their greenhouse gas emissions and exposure to climate-related risks. Business groups sue, alleging violations of the First Amendment. Ninth Circuit: Applying intermediate scrutiny, we uphold two of the disclosure requirements, but enjoin the one requiring companies to report "indirect emissions," including those from its suppliers and customers. We also enjoin the one about climate-related risks, which compels subjective, ideological speech. Dissent: All of the requirements should get strict scrutiny, which they fail.
12. Arizona man is convicted for his role in 2015 shooting at Garland, Tex. "Draw Muhammad" event and sentenced to 30 years. Ninth Circuit (2-1): He may have been inspired by ISIS, but he wasn't under the group's "direction or control." His conviction on that count can't be sustained. Also Ninth Circuit (unpublished, 3-0): He'll still be in prison for a long time.
13. Allegation: Shoplifting suspect (turns out she's innocent) suffering medical episode unconsciously thrashes about in hospital bed, exposing herself from the waist down. Did Tempe, Ariz. officers really need to record three hours of that on their body cams? Ninth Circuit (unpublished): Qualified immunity.
14. Since his release seven years ago, sexagenarian (who served decades for crack distribution) has been a model citizen. Now he seeks an early end to his supervised release, the conditions of which are hindering his burgeoning and high-profile art career. And the district court should take another look, says the Ninth Circuit.
15. Did officials in Kansas fire nine tenured Emporia State University professors via a sham process because of their lefty political leanings? Or was the school indeed in severe financial straits? The Tenth Circuit says this goes forward. No QI for now.

Phooey! Over four years after Meridian officials evicted IJ client Chasidy Decker from her home, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled this week that her challenge to the city's irrational ban on tiny mobile homes is not ripe. That's because, the court said, she and her landlord failed to apply for a permit that officials repeatedly testified they would not and could not grant. The silver lining? The city still can't show the ban serves a legitimate purpose, and one day they're going to have to. (Or they could, you know, repeal the thing.) Click here to learn more.