The Latest Breaking News from Seventh Circuit

Presidential audits, political patronage, and mail inspections.

Less than a month after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin took the extraordinary step of pausing all operations for 24 hours to “address extremism in the ranks.” Pentagon officials had been shaken by service members’ prominent role in the events…

From Gaines v. Chicago Bd. of Ed., decided Friday by Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan (N.D. Ill.); note that the result might have been different in other federal circuits, which do recognize journalist's privileges of varying strength: Plaintiffs Asia Gaines, for herself and as next friend of her minor child JC,…

From Chief Judge Beryl Howell (D.D.C.) in Officer in the U.S. Space Force v. Austin, decided yesterday (contrary to decisions in M.D. Fla., N.D. Ill. and D. Colo., but consistently with Chief Judge Howell's decision in another case, and with this nonprecedential Seventh Circuit order): Plaintiff is "an officer in…

Acts of state, hedonic damages, and bang-bang commands.

From U.S. Army ROTC ECP Cadet Doe v. Biden, decided yesterday by Chief Judge Beryl Howell (D.D.C.) (contrary to decisions in M.D. Fla., N.D. Ill. and D. Colo., but consistently with this nonprecedential Seventh Circuit order): Plaintiff, "a nineteen-year-old male ROTC Early Commissioning Program (ECP) candidate" who is "currently a…