Constitutional Law

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law

Przybocki v. USDA — Consumers and Food Sellers Can Pursue First Amendment Challenges to FODMAP Label Restrictions

automatic / August 3, 2026

The Ninth Circuit found standing for consumers and food sellers challenging federal restrictions on FODMAP label information.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Healthcare Law

Conservatorship of C.O. — Counsel may communicate conservatee’s jury-trial waiver

automatic / August 3, 2026

An LPS conservatee may knowingly waive a jury trial through counsel, although the trial court should personally advise the conservatee of that right.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

United States v. Ridley-Thomas — Ninth Circuit affirms Los Angeles bribery convictions

automatic / August 3, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld Mark Ridley-Thomas’s bribery and honest-services convictions based on an indirect $100,000 benefit for his son.

California Supreme Court, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Sanmiguel — Courts must scrutinize demeanor-based reasons for juror strikes

automatic / July 30, 2026

California’s high court clarified how judges must evaluate demeanor-based explanations for peremptory juror strikes under section 231.7.

1st District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Thompson v. Superior Court — Mental-health diversion may include rehabilitative search conditions

automatic / July 30, 2026

Trial courts may impose reasonable, rehabilitation-focused conditions when granting pretrial mental-health diversion.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Immigration, Litigation

Rodriguez Vazquez v. Bostock — Interior Immigration Arrests Do Not Trigger Mandatory Detention

automatic / July 30, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that noncitizens arrested in the interior after entering without inspection are not automatically subject to mandatory detention and may seek bond consideration.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Arterberry v. Peet’s Coffee — Yelp Law Penalties Require Enforcement or Retaliation

automatic / July 29, 2026

California consumers cannot recover Yelp-law penalties merely because unlawful non-disparagement language appears in website terms; they must allege enforcement, a threat, or retaliation.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Election Law

Ehrenreich v. Weber — California’s presidential write-in elector requirements are facially constitutional

automatic / July 28, 2026

California may require presidential write-in candidates to file a complete slate of elector declarations before votes cast for them will be counted.

4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Carrillo — gang expert’s race-related testimony did not violate the Racial Justice Act

automatic / July 28, 2026

Race-related gang testimony tied to the evidence did not itself violate the Racial Justice Act, though counsel must timely preserve an RJA claim.

4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Vasquez — Sealed Informant Affidavit and Pre-Search Detention Did Not Require Suppression

automatic / July 27, 2026

The Court of Appeal upheld a firearm search because sealed review supported the warrant and the evidence derived independently from any disputed pre-search detention.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

United States v. Anten — Federal Threat Statute Requires Objective Threat and Subjective Fault

automatic / July 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that the federal interstate-threat statute requires both an objectively threatening communication and a culpable subjective mental state.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Healthcare Law, Labor & Employment Law

Weiss v. Permanente Medical Group, Inc. — Religious-Objection Notice Was Sufficient at the Pleading Stage

automatic / July 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit revived a medical employee's religious-accommodation claims, holding that her allegations plausibly gave the employer notice of a conflict between her faith and its COVID-19 vaccination policy.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Toy v. City and County of San Francisco — Water-Rate Challenges Must Follow California’s Validation Procedure

automatic / July 24, 2026

A challenge to San Francisco water rates failed because California's mandatory reverse-validation procedure could not be waived by the city or replaced with refund and declaratory-relief claims.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

United States v. Pereda — GPS and On-Scene Facts Supported Parole Searches of a Trailer and Truck

automatic / July 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that GPS history and on-scene facts gave officers probable cause to search a supervisee’s trailer and pickup under his warrantless-search condition.

California Supreme Court, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Healthcare Law

Conservatorship of E.A. — A Nearly Year-Long Delay in an LPS Trial Violated Due Process

automatic / July 23, 2026

The California Supreme Court held that an almost year-long delay in an LPS conservatorship trial violated due process, though the error was harmless on this record.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

United States v. Colar — Failure to Investigate an Alternate Juror’s Express Bias Requires a New Trial

automatic / July 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit ordered a new trial because the district court delayed and inadequately investigated an alternate juror who had expressly prejudged the defense.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Mata v. Digital Recognition Network — License-plate privacy suits require actual harm

automatic / July 20, 2026

California's ALPR statute requires a plaintiff to show actual harm caused by a violation; a technical violation and subjective privacy concern are not enough.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

United States v. Holcomb — Officers Must Halt a Computer Search When Probable Cause Dissolves Mid-Execution

automatic / July 17, 2026

A divided Ninth Circuit holds that police executing a computer search warrant must stop searching when evidence they discover negates the probable cause underlying the warrant—and that the good-faith exception does not save evidence found after probable cause dissolves.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bonta — Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Review, Upholding California Switchblade Regulations

automatic / July 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denied panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in a Second Amendment challenge to California's switchblade knife regulations, leaving intact a panel ruling that California's ban on the concealed carry of switchblade knives survives a facial constitutional challenge under the Bruen framework.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Muradyan v. Bonta — Lifetime Sex Offender Registration for Child Luring Offense Survives Equal Protection Challenge

automatic / July 15, 2026

California's Second District Court of Appeal affirmed that placing child-luring offenders in the lifetime sex offender registration tier does not violate equal protection, because the Legislature could rationally find that the predatory, premeditated nature of luring crimes signals a higher risk of recidivism than other sex offenses.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Miranda — California’s Ban on Concealed Daggers Survives Second Amendment Challenge

automatic / July 13, 2026

The Second District Court of Appeal upholds California’s ban on carrying concealed dirks and daggers as facially constitutional under the Supreme Court’s Bruen text-and-history test, pointing to a robust historical tradition of concealed-weapons prohibitions.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Banking & Finance, Constitutional Law

Novedades y Servicios v. FinCEN — Ninth Circuit Upholds Block on Treasury’s Sweeping Southwest Border Cash-Reporting Order

automatic / July 13, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms a preliminary injunction blocking FinCEN’s “Border GTO” — which required money services businesses in 30 southwest border ZIP codes to file cash-transaction reports for amounts as low as $200 — finding the order was likely a rule requiring notice-and-comment rulemaking and that it was adopted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Ventura Harbor Restaurant Associates v. Ventura Port District — Percentage Rent in Government Lease Is Not a Tax Under Proposition 26

automatic / July 9, 2026

California's Second District Court of Appeal holds that a percentage-of-gross-income rent clause in a public port district's commercial lease is neither a voter-approval tax under Proposition 26 nor an unconstitutional regulation of alcohol sales.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Garner — A 50-Year Juvenile Sentence Is Not a De Facto Life Term When Parole Is Available Under Section 3051

automatic / July 8, 2026

The Third District held that a juvenile offender's 50-year determinate sentence is not the functional equivalent of life without parole — and therefore does not qualify for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170(d)(1) — because section 3051 gave him a meaningful parole opportunity during his 15th year of incarceration.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law

City of Clearlake v. Highlands Mutual Water Co. — Statute Requiring Cancellation of Public Entity’s Water Company Shares Is Constitutional

automatic / July 7, 2026

The First District holds that Corporations Code section 14300's mandatory cancellation of a public entity's appurtenant water company shares does not violate the California Constitution's limited exception permitting public entities to hold such shares.