⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The D.C. Circuit considers a former State Department officer's damages suit after criminal charges were dismissed. The investigation concerned alleged omissions about foreign contacts and financial matters during security-clearance reviews. Prosecutors charged him with wire fraud on the theory that he hid information to keep his job and salary. Courts dismissed that charge, and the appeals court upheld the dismissal in 2023 because the alleged scheme did not satisfy the statute. He then sued the United States, alleging that an investigator used false statements and omissions to obtain searches and bring about the prosecution. The district court dismissed the civil case, relying in part on an earlier ruling that the search warrants had probable cause. His lawyer will argue that justification for a search is not the same as justification for a prosecution, and that the complaint should proceed to discovery. The government will answer that prosecutors and the grand jury independently had the relevant documents, and that other legal barriers defeat the claims. For some claims, those barriers include the government's immunity from suits arising out of libel or slander. Listen for three separate questions: what the criminal dismissal decided, who caused the prosecution, and whether the appeals court should decide additional grounds or send them back to the district judge.

Paul Guertin v. United States of America (No. 26-5033) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued November 5, 2026.