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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
CONDARIUS DESHUN TRIPPLET,
Defendant-Appellant.
   No. 23-1676
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.
No. 1:22-cr-00161-1—Robert J. Jonker, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: August 12, 2024
Before: MOORE, MURPHY, and BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judges.


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OPINION
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BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judge. In 2022, Condarius Tripplet pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The district court sentenced Tripplet to 188 months’ imprisonment. He now appeals, contesting the court’s application of a drug-premises enhancement. This enhancement adds two levels to the base offense level when a defendant maintains “a premises (i.e., a building, room, or enclosure) for the purpose of manufacturing or distributing” drugs. U.S. Sent’g Comm’n Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G.) § 2D1.1(b)(12). Tripplet acknowledges he maintained an apartment but disputes that its primary use was for drug distribution, noting that he lived there with his then-girlfriend and her two children. However, our precedent clarifies that the defendant need not maintain the premises only for drug operations; if drug manufacture or distribution is one of the primary or principal uses of the residence, the enhancement may apply. Given the undisputed findings that Tripplet had a significant quantity of various illegal drugs, thousands of dollars in cash, a firearm, and drug manufacturing tools in the residence, and that he regularly distributed drugs to customers from this residence, we affirm the district court’s decision to apply the enhancement.



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
GREGORY D. RALSTON,
Defendant-Appellant.
   No. 23-3651
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 1:20-cr-00330-1—John R. Adams, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: August 12, 2024
Before: GILMAN, LARSEN, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges.


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OPINION
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RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. After a four-day jury trial, Gregory D. Ralston was found guilty of distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute a fentanyl-containing substance. He was, however, acquitted of causing the serious bodily injury of another by distributing the fentanyl.

Ralston challenges the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence without holding an evidentiary hearing, the court’s limitation of his cross-examination of two government witnesses under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment, and the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his 180-month sentence. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. But because of an intervening amendment in the Sentencing Guidelines during the pendency of this appeal, we REMAND the case to the district court for consideration of whether Ralston is entitled to a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c).



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JOSEPH A. FORTIN,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,
Defendant-Appellee.
   No. 23-1528
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 2:22-cv-12593—Curtis Ivy, Jr., Magistrate Judge
Argued: May 2, 2024
Decided and Filed: August 12, 2024
Before: SILER, CLAY, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.


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OPINION
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In Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Supreme Court held that administrative law judges are inferior officers of the United States who must be appointed as prescribed by the Appointments Clause. 585 U.S. 237, 251 (2018). Then-Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Nancy Berryhill responded to Lucia by ratifying and approving as her own the prior appointments of the Administration’s ALJs. One of the ALJs covered by that order denied plaintiff Joseph Fortin’s claim for benefits. Fortin asserts Berryhill’s actions were invalid and therefore the ALJ lacked the authority to deny his claim, but he does not otherwise take issue with the merits of the ALJ’s decision. The district court rejected Fortin’s arguments and granted summary judgment in favor of the Commissioner of Social Security. We affirm.