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Charles Murphy v. Robert Smith, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 15-3384 · judgment December 21, 2016

Decided · February 21, 2018
At-filing estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

When a prisoner obtains a monetary judgment in a suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the prisoner's lawyer is awarded attorney's fees, "a portion of the judgment (not to exceed 25 percent) shall be applied to satisfy the amount of attorney's fees awarded against the defendant." 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(2). The defendant pays the remainder of the attorney's fees. The question presented is whether the parenthetical phrase "not to exceed 25 percent" means any amount up to 25 percent (as four circuits hold), or whether it means exactly 25 percent (as the Seventh Circuit holds).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Stuart Banner
UCLA School of Law Supreme Court Clinic

For respondent
David Leigh Franklin
Office of the Attorney General of Illinois

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage · 2 merits
(1 supporting pet./neither, 1 respondent)

Order
Order list, October 10, 2017

Argument & decision

Argued December 6, 2017 — Stuart Banner · Brett E. Legner. Listen and read along · the Court’s audio

Decided February 21, 2018. Opinion by Gorsuch.

Proceedings

  1. Mar 26 2018
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Feb 21 2018
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Gorsuch, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, JJ., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan, JJ., joined.
  3. Dec 06 2017
    Argued. For petitioner: Stuart Banner, Los Angeles, Cal. For respondents: Brett E. Legner, Deputy Solicitor General, Chicago, Ill.
  4. Nov 16 2017
    Reply of petitioner Charles Murphy filed. (Distributed)
  5. Nov 06 2017
    Brief amici curiae of States of Michigan, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  6. Oct 30 2017
    Brief of respondents Robert Smith, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  7. Oct 20 2017
    CIRCULATED
  8. Oct 10 2017
    Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner GRANTED.
  9. Oct 06 2017
    Brief amici curiae of American Civil Liberties, et al. filed.
  10. Oct 06 2017
    SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Wednesday, December 6, 2017
  11. Sep 29 2017
    Brief of petitioner Charles Murphy filed.
  12. Sep 05 2017
    Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Charles Murphy.
  13. Aug 25 2017
    Petition GRANTED.
  14. Jul 26 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of September 25, 2017.
  15. Jul 18 2017
    Reply of petitioner Charles Murphy filed.
  16. Jul 12 2017
    Brief of respondents Robert Smith, et al. in opposition filed.
  17. Jun 14 2017
    Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including July 12, 2017.
  18. Apr 25 2017
    Order extending time to file response to petition to and including June 12, 2017.
  19. Apr 12 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 28, 2017.
  20. Apr 12 2017
    Response Requested. (Due May 12, 2017)
  21. Apr 03 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, et al. filed.
  22. Mar 30 2017
    Waiver of right of respondent Robert Smith, et al. to respond filed.
  23. Mar 02 2017
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 5, 2017)