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J. B. R. v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 15-20262 · judgment March 9, 2018

Certiorari denied · February 25, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 11% cert probability (95% interval 8%–15%)

Before the decision, about 2.7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Fifth Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

Federal law contains a number of crimes for which the only statutorily authorized punishments are death or life imprisonment without possibility of parole. As the Government conceded below, this Court has held that the Constitution forbids imposing either punishment on a person who was under the age of eighteen at the time of the crime. The question presented is: Whether the Due Process Clause forbids the Government from prosecuting an individual who was a juvenile at the time of the crime under a statute that provides no punishment that can constitutionally be applied to that individual.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Pamela Susan Karlan
Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clini

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 25 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 06 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/22/2019.
  3. Feb 06 2019
    Reply of petitioner J. B. R. filed. (Distributed)
  4. Jan 18 2019
    Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
  5. Dec 18 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including January 18, 2019.
  6. Dec 17 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 21, 2018 to January 18, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Oct 04 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including December 21, 2018.
  8. Oct 03 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 15, 2018 to December 21, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Sep 06 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 15, 2018.
  10. Sep 05 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 13, 2018 to October 15, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  11. Jul 23 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 13, 2018)