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United States v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, No. 18-1671, 18-1746, 18-1787 · judgment February 15, 2019

Decided · June 1, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 44% cert probability (95% interval 30%–60%)

Before the decision, about 10.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a First Circuit decision below, and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

Consolidated with 18-1334. In 2016, Congress enacted the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), 48 U.S.C. 2101 et seq. (Supp. V 2017), to address the economic emergency facing the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Act established a Financial Oversight and Management Board as an entity "within the territorial government" of Puerto Rico. 48 U.S.C. 2121(c)(1) (Supp. V 2017). The question presented is whether members of the Board are "Officers of the United States" within the meaning of the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Art. II, § 2, Cl. 2.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

For respondent
Theodore B. Olson
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Related
Vide, 18-1334, 18-1475, 18-1496, 18-1521

Argument & decision

Argued October 15, 2019 — Donald B. Verrilli · Jeffrey B. Wall · Theodore B. Olson · Jessica .... Audio and transcript

Decided June 1, 2020. Opinion by Breyer.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 06 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 01 2020
    Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Ginsburg, Alito, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., and Sotomayor, J., filed opinions concurring in the judgment. VIDED.
  3. Oct 15 2019
    Argued. For Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico: Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Washington, D. C. For United States: Jeffrey B. Wall, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For Aurelius Investment, LLC, et al.: Theodore B. Olson, Washington, D. C. For UTIER: Jessica E. Méndez-Colberg, Ponce, P. R. VIDED.
  4. Aug 29 2019
    Record received from the U.S.D.C. District of Puerto Rico is electronic. All other non confidential filings are located on PACER.
  5. Aug 26 2019
    The record from the U.S.C.A. 1st Circuit is located on PACER, with the exception of the appendix located electronically.
  6. Aug 16 2019
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 1st Circuit.
  7. Aug 01 2019
    CIRCULATED
  8. Jul 01 2019
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. VIDED
  9. Jun 20 2019
    Petition GRANTED. The petitions for writs of certiorari in Nos. 18-1334, 18-1475, 18-1496, 18-1514 and 18-1521 are granted. The cases are consolidated, and will be set for argument in the second week of the October 2019 argument session. Parties challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue shall file an opening brief on that issue on or before Thursday, July 25, 2019. The briefs are to bear a light blue cover and are limited to 15,000 words. Parties supporting the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and challenging the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue shall file a consolidated opening brief on or before Thursday, August 22, 2019. The briefs are to bear a light red cover and are limited to 20,000 words. Parties challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and supporting the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue shall file a consolidated opening brief and reply on or before Thursday, September 19, 2019. The briefs are to bear a yellow cover and are limited to 13,000 words. Parties challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue shall file with the Clerk and serve upon counsel a reply brief limited to that issue on or before 2 p.m., Tuesday, October 8, 2019. The briefs are to bear a tan cover and are limited to 6,000 words. Amicus curiae briefs challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and/or supporting the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue are to be filed on or before Thursday, August 1, 2019. The briefs are to bear a light green cover and are limited to 9,000 words. Amicus curiae briefs supporting the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and/or challenging the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue are to be filed on or before Thursday, August 29, 2019. The briefs are to bear a dark green cover and are limited to 9,000 words. An amicus curiae shall file only a single brief.
  10. Jun 20 2019
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 18-1334. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 18-1334. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the fling is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
  11. Jun 17 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2019.
  12. Jun 12 2019
    Letter of June 12, 2019 from counsel for respondents Aurelius Investment, LLC, et al. filed.
  13. Jun 05 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 8, 2019)