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Mary Anne Sause v. Timothy J. Bauer, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 16-3231 · judgment June 20, 2017

GVR'd · June 28, 2018

Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Question presented

Law-enforcement officers stopped Mary Anne Sause from praying silently in her own home—not to further any legitimate law-enforcement interest, but “so they could harass her.” App. 7a. The Tenth Circuit correctly “assume[d]” this conduct “violated Sause’s rights under the First Amendment.” App. 6a–7a. Yet the Tenth Circuit nevertheless granted qualified immunity to the officers, solely on the ground that their alleged conduct was so obviously unconstitutional that there is no prior case law involving similar facts. See, e.g., App. 8a (granting qualified immunity because “Sause doesn’t identify a single case in which this court, or any other court for that matter, has found a First Amendment violation based on a factual scenario even remotely resembling the one we encounter here”). Does the Tenth Circuit’s holding conflict with Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 741 (2002), which “expressly rejected a requirement that previous cases be ‘fundamentally similar’” or involve “‘materially similar’ facts”? And does this error warrant summary relief? See, e.g., Tolan v. Cotton, 134 S. Ct. 1861 (2014) (relying on Hope, 536 U.S. 730).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Allyson Ho
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

For respondent
David R. Cooper
Fisher, Patterson, et al.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 16 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Linked docket
17A252

Proceedings

Jul 30 2018
JUDGMENT ISSUED.
Jun 28 2018
Petition GRANTED. Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Opinion per curiam. (Detached Opinion)
Jun 27 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/27/2018.
Jun 18 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/21/2018.
Jun 11 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/14/2018.
Jun 04 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/7/2018.
May 29 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/31/2018.
May 21 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/24/2018.
May 14 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/17/2018.
May 07 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/10/2018.
Apr 23 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/27/2018.
Apr 16 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/20/2018.
Apr 09 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/13/2018.
Mar 26 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/29/2018.
Mar 19 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/23/2018.
Mar 12 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/16/2018.
Feb 26 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/2/2018.
Feb 07 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/23/2018.
Feb 06 2018
Reply of petitioner Mary Anne Sause filed.
Jan 19 2018
Brief of respondents Timothy J. Bauer, et al. in opposition filed.
Dec 20 2017
Brief amicus curiae of State of Texas filed.
Dec 20 2017
Brief amicus curiae of Former Federal Prosecutors filed.
Dec 14 2017
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 19, 2018.
Dec 08 2017
Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 20, 2017 to January 19, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
Nov 22 2017
Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Mary Anne Sause
Nov 17 2017
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 20, 2017)
Sep 25 2017
Application (17A252) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until November 17, 2017.
Sep 22 2017
Application (17A252) to extend further the time from October 18, 2017 to November 17, 2017, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.
Sep 06 2017
Application (17A252) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until October 18, 2017.
Aug 31 2017
Application (17A252) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from September 18, 2017 to October 18, 2017, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.