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Georgia, et al. v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 17-11589 · judgment October 19, 2018

Decided · April 27, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and an Eleventh Circuit decision below, and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

This Court has held, as a matter of "public policy," that judicial opinions are not copyrightable. Banks v. Manchester, 128 U.S. 244, 253-254 (1888). Lower courts have extended that holding to state statutes. See, e.g., John G. Danielson, Inc. v. Winchester-Conant Props., Inc., 322 F.3d 26, 38 (1st Cir. 2003). But the rule that "government edicts” cannot be copyrighted has "proven difficult to apply when the material in question does not fall neatly into the categories of statutes or judicial opinions." Ibid. The question presented is: Whether the government edicts doctrine extends to-and thus renders uncopyrightable-works that lack the force of law, such as the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Joshua Stephen Johnson
Vinson & Elkins LLP

For respondent
Eric F. Citron
Goldstein & Russell, P.C.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
6 cert-stage · 27 merits
(8 supporting pet./neither, 19 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued December 2, 2019 — Joshua S. Johnson · Eric F. Citron. Audio and transcript

Decided April 27, 2020. Opinion by Roberts, C.J..

Proceedings

  1. May 29 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Apr 27 2020
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Roberts, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Alito, J., joined, and in which Breyer, J., joined as to all but Part II–A and footnote 6. Ginsburg, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Breyer, J., joined.
  3. Dec 02 2019
    Argued. For petitioners: Joshua S. Johnson, Washington, D. C.; and Anthony A. Yang, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.) For respondent: Eric F. Citron, Bethesda, Md.
  4. Nov 08 2019
    Reply of petitioners State of Georgia, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  5. Nov 04 2019
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
  6. Oct 25 2019
    CIRCULATED
  7. Oct 23 2019
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 11th Circuit.
  8. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The Center for Democracy and Technology and Cato Institute filed.
  9. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Current and Former Government Officials filed.
  10. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of American Library Association, et al. filed.
  11. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Professor Shyamkrishna Balganesh and Professor Peter S. Menell filed.
  12. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of 39 Law Students, 24 Solo and Small-Firm Practitioners of Law, and 38 Legal Educators filed.
  13. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of 116 Law Librarians and 5 Law Library Organizations filed.
  14. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Next-Generation Legal Research Platforms and Databases filed.
  15. Oct 16 2019
    Corrected Certificate of Word Count with respect to amici brief of Next-Generation Legal Research Platforms and Databases filed. (Oct 23, 2019).
  16. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press & 25 Media Organizations filed.
  17. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of American Intellectual Property Association filed.
  18. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The American Civil Liberties Union, et al. filed.
  19. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Brendan Keefe, in His Official Capacity as Chief Investigative Reporter for 11Alive Atlanta, and WXIA-TV filed.
  20. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and Human Rights Defense Center filed.
  21. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Electronic Privacy Information Center, et al. filed.
  22. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Print Disability Advocates filed.
  23. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Law Professors Nina Mendelson, et al. filed.
  24. Oct 16 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Caselaw Access Project filed.
  25. Oct 15 2019
    Brief amici curiae of 36 Computational Law Scholars filed.
  26. Oct 15 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Internet Association filed.
  27. Oct 11 2019
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
  28. Oct 11 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The R Street Institute, the Wikimedia Foundation, and Public Knowledge filed.
  29. Oct 09 2019
    Brief of respondent Public.Resource.Org, Inc. filed.
  30. Sep 13 2019
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, December 2, 2019.
  31. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
  32. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amici curiae of American Society For Testing And Materials, et al. in support of neither party filed.
  33. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of The Software & Information Industry Association filed.
  34. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Arkansas, et al. filed.
  35. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amici curiae of International Code Council, Inc. and American Gas Association filed.
  36. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Matthew Bender & Co., Inc. filed.
  37. Aug 30 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of The Copyright Alliance filed.
  38. Aug 29 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Home Builders in support of neither party filed.
  39. Aug 23 2019
    Joint appendix (3 Volumes) filed. (Statement of costs filed)
  40. Aug 23 2019
    Brief of petitioners State of Georgia, et al. filed.
  41. Jul 09 2019
    Joint motion to extend the time to file the briefs on the merits granted. The time to file the joint appendix and petitioners' brief on the merits is extended to and including August 23, 2019. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including October 9, 2019.
  42. Jul 02 2019
    Joint motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
  43. Jun 24 2019
    Petition GRANTED.
  44. Jun 17 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2019.
  45. May 28 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/13/2019.
  46. May 24 2019
    Reply of petitioners State of Georgia, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  47. May 10 2019
    Brief of respondent Public.Resource.Org, Inc. in opposition filed.
  48. May 10 2019
    Brief amici curiae of 119 Law Students, et al. filed.
  49. May 09 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Next-Generation Legal Research Platforms and Databases and Digital Accessibility Advocate in support of respondent filed.
  50. May 06 2019
    Brief amici curiae of R Street Institute, et al. in support of respondent filed.
  51. May 01 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 3, 2019 to May 10, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  52. May 01 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 10, 2019.
  53. Apr 04 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of The Software & Information Industry Association filed.
  54. Apr 04 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Arkansas, et al. filed.
  55. Apr 04 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Matthew Bender & Co., Inc. filed.
  56. Mar 27 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 3, 2019.
  57. Mar 22 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 4, 2019 to May 3, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  58. Mar 01 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 4, 2019)
  59. Dec 20 2018
    Application (18A598) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until March 4, 2019.
  60. Dec 07 2018
    Application (18A598) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 17, 2019 to March 4, 2019, submitted to Justice Thomas.
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