⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit reviews a preliminary injunction limiting federal officers' use of tear gas and other chemical munitions near Gray's Landing, an apartment building beside Portland's immigration facility. The plaintiffs are residents and the organizations that operate the building, not protesters outside the facility. They say repeated gas deployments entered their homes and bodies. The district court found a likely Fifth Amendment substantive due process violation and granted the injunction. A divided Ninth Circuit motions panel later stayed both the injunction and the district-court case. The merits panel must decide whether the plaintiffs also need to establish a fundamental right rooted in history, and what conduct can shock the conscience. Justice Department lawyer Brenna Scully will ask the court to vacate the injunction. Stephen Wirth of Jacobson Lawyers Group will argue that conscience-shocking executive conduct is the governing test and that the injunction should stand.

Reach Community Development v. United States Department of Homeland Security (No. 26-1575) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued July 10, 2026.