Jones v. City of Los Angeles In 2006, Judge Wardlaw held that homeless plaintiffs could challenge an ordinance banning sleeping on the street, over the dissent of Judge
Pamela Ann Rymer.
Redding v. Safford Unified School District On July 11, 2008, Wardlaw ruled in favor of Savannah Redding, a 13-year-old girl who was strip searched because she was wrongly suspected of having drugs on her. Wardlaw, joined by Judges Pregerson, Fisher, Paez, M. Smith, and N.R. Smith, ruled that the strip search of Redding violated the 4th amendment and denied individuals conducting the strip search qualified immunity. In
Safford Unified School District v. Redding, the Supreme Court affirmed the 9th circuit on the strip search violating the 4th amendment, but granted
qualified immunity to the individuals conducting the strip search. Justices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg &
John Paul Stevens dissented from the qualified immunity ruling and voted to affirm Wardlaw's ruling in full.
Bryan v. McPherson Wardlaw wrote the majority opinion in
Bryan v. MacPherson, a case where police officers tasered a man at a traffic spot because he was not wearing a seatbelt. Wardlaw concluded that the police violated the man's 4th amendment rights, and that use of a taser can be considered
excessive force. Wardlaw also wrote a concurrence in denying en banc, joined by judges Pregerson, Reinhardt, and W. Fletcher, defending her initial decision to rule against the officers.
Bringas-Rodriguez v. Sessions On March 8, 2017, Wardlaw ruled that Carlos Bringas-Rodriguez, a gay Mexican, must be given protection from persecution, overruling
Castro-Martinez v. Holder. She ruled that Bringas-Rodriguez had suffered past prosecution, as he was abused as a child based on his sexual orientation, and that the Mexican police would not investigate the abuse because of Bringas-Rodriguez's sexual orientation. Wardlaw was joined by Chief Judge
Sidney Runyan Thomas, Judge
William A. Fletcher,
Milan Smith,
Morgan Christen,
John B. Owens,
Michelle T. Friedland, and Senior Judge
Barry G. Silverman, over the dissent of
Carlos Bea who was joined by
Diarmuid O'Scannlain.
Richard R. Clifton concurred in the judgement but would not overrule Castro-Martinez v. Holder.
Ibrahim v. Department of Homeland Security On January 2, 2019, Wardlaw ruled that Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim had experienced sex discrimination, and Wardlaw remanded for a recalculation of Ibrahim's fees. Wardlaw also ruled that the government may have acted in bad faith. Wardlaw was joined by
Sidney Runyan Thomas,
M. Margaret McKeown,
William A. Fletcher,
Marsha Berzon,
Milan Smith,
Morgan Christen, and
Paul J. Watford, over the partial dissent of
Consuelo Callahan who was joined by
N. Randy Smith and
Jacqueline Nguyen. In October 2019, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, with Justice
Samuel Alito commenting that he voted to take up the case.
City of Los Angeles v. Barr (Sanctuary Cities) On July 12, 2019, in
City of Los Angeles V. Barr, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a
nationwide injunction issued in 2018, thus upholding preferential treatment in awarding community policing grants to cities that cooperate with immigration authorities. In the opinion, Judge
Sandra Ikuta wrote, "Cooperation relating to enforcement of federal immigration law is in pursuit of the general welfare, and meets the low bar of being germane to the federal interest in providing the funding to "address crime and disorder problems, and otherwise... enhance public safety... one of the main purposes for which” the grant is intended. In her dissent, Judge Wardlaw wrote, "[The Department of Justice's] decision to implement both the illegal immigration focus area and the Cooperation Certification is foreclosed by the text, structure, and purpose of the Community Policing Act." In July 2019, Wardlaw dissented when the 9th circuit en banc upheld Trump's gag rule which defunded abortion providers from Title X funds.
Tresóna v. Burbank High School In March 2020, Wardlaw authored the opinion of the court on Tresóna Multimedia v.
Burbank High School Vocal Music Ass'n, which held the school choir's usage of the song
Magic was
fair use, and that the school should be awarded
attorney's fees due to Tresóna's "overreaching claims of copyright infringement". Wardlaw wrote that
Center for Investigative Reporting v. DOJ On September 23, 2021, Wardlaw, joined by Milan Smith, ordered the DOJ to publicize records regarding the number of weapons that were formerly owned by law enforcement. The basis for this decision was the
Freedom of Information Act.
Okonowsky v. Garland On July 25, 2024, Wardlaw reinstated a hostile work environment lawsuit. The lawsuit had been filed by a staff psychologist working for a federal prison who discovered that a corrections lieutenant was sexually harassing her via social media.
Election Integrity Project v. Weber On August 15, 2024, Wardlaw wrote for a unanimous panel ruling that California's vote-by-mail system was constitutional.
National TPS Alliance v. Noem ==Personal life==