Latest 2 Cases: Woodring v. Jackson County (Civil Rights), United States v. Stephens (Criminal Law)

Woodring v. Jackson County

Docket: 20-1881

Opinion Date: February 2, 2021

Judge: St. Eve

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Government & Administrative Law

Each holiday season, Jackson County, Indiana has a lighted Christmas display on the lawn of its historic courthouse. The display comprises a nativity scene, Santa Claus in his sleigh, a reindeer, carolers, and large candy-striped poles. The display has gone up each year since 2003 when the Ministerial Association purchased it; the secular Lion’s Club maintains and installs it. The County supplies electricity for the display. There is evidence that the courthouse had similar displays before 2003. Woodring, a Jackson County resident, sued, arguing that the nativity scene violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The district court permanently enjoined the County from displaying the nativity scene in its current arrangement. The Seventh Circuit reversed. Woodring has standing to sue, but the nativity scene complies with the Establishment Clause. The district court applied the “purpose” and “endorsement” tests that grew out of the Supreme Court’s 1971 "Lemon" decision but the Court’s 2019 "American Legion" decision requires the use of a different, more historical framework. The nativity scene fits within a long national tradition of using the nativity scene in broader holiday displays to celebrate the origins of Christmas—a public holiday. A governmental practice with historical support may be unconstitutional if it is intolerant or discriminatory toward differing views but Woodring supplied no good reason why the County’s nativity scene does not fit within the historical tradition outlined in Lynch.

United States v. Stephens

Docket: 20-1463

Opinion Date: February 2, 2021

Judge: HAMILTON

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Agents seized electronic devices with 184,000 pornographic images and videos of children from Stephens’s home. Before charges were filed, officers discovered that Stephens in the meantime had downloaded 10,000 more child pornography images and videos and had shared some files. Stephens pleaded guilty to transporting child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(1). A probation officer calculated his guideline range as 151-188 months' imprisonment and recommended a 108-month sentence, reasoning that the computer enhancement is outdated, but suggested that an upward variance could be appropriate because Stephens possessed a large quantity of child pornography and because the first search had no deterrent effect. Stephens asked for the five-year mandatory minimum sentence, arguing that adopting 15 offense levels’ of enhancements would result in an artificially high sentence; citing his psychosexual evaluation, which concluded that, as a “no-contact” offender, Stephens was unlikely to sexually offend in the future; and noting his autism spectrum disorder, avoidant personality disorder, and depression diagnoses. He believed: “I did nothing wrong.” His attorney explained that Stephens had taken a cognitive skills class, behavioral treatment, and engaged ub reflection. The Seventh Circuit affirmed his 151-month sentence, finding that the district court adequately considered the arguments in mitigation, the probation officer’s recommendation, and the sentencing factors, 18 U.S.C. 3553(a). The court had noted images that depicted violent, traumatic, and sadistic abuse, “[t]he number of children seriously and irreversibly traumatized,” and doubts that Stephens could “realize the pure evil of these images.”