This month’s podcast focuses on a trio of significant cases the Seventh Court handed down in mid-March within days of each other. Each of these cases has major ramifications for those in the Seventh Circuit.

First, Kian takes on the Court’s en banc opinion in St. Anthony Hospital v. Whitehorn, which addresses when Section 1983 may be used to enforce Medicaid requirements. The opinion reversed a panel opinion discussed on the podcast earlier this year. The case sets out key guideposts for all cases attempting to enforce federal statutes through Section 1983.

Second, Lara tackles an opinion addressing a fundamental question about the very nature of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In USA v. Black, the Seventh Circuit determined that it did not need to defer to the Sentencing Commission’s interpretation of a provision in the First Step Act. Given the opinion’s analysis of both the rule set out in Loper Bright regarding deference to agencies and its thorough examination of the Sentencing Commission’s role, the Black case is a notable decision that might attract the Supreme Court’s attention.

Finally, Mark addresses Kilborn v. Amiridis, a First Amendment case challenging a law school’s decision to discipline a professor for what students found to be racially insensitive speech in an exam and during lectures. In yet another case that might be a candidate for certiorari, the Court set ground rules for when a professor’s free speech intersects with a university’s power to control what happens in the classroom.