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Thaddeus Jones, et al. v. Michelle Markiewicz-Qualkinbush, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 17-1227 · judgment June 14, 2018

Certiorari denied · November 19, 2018

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 and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Questions presented

Whether the reasoning and decision of Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture, 553 U.S. 591 (2008), extends to the political context, where political animus is the basis for a class-of-one equal protection cause of action, thereby exempting or precluding such class-of-one equal protection causes of action.
Whether a facially-neutral statute, when purposefully utilized by a municipality as a “political dirty trick” to preclude an individual citizen’s competing referendum question from appearing on the ballot, is unconstitutional as applied, as it infringes on citizens’ First Amendment rights, and therefore requires a strict scrutiny analysis.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Keri-Lyn Joy Krafthefer
Ancel Glink

For respondent
Burton S. Odelson
Odelson & Sterk, Ltd.

Case

Subject area
Civil Rights (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Order
Order list, November 19, 2018 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

Nov 19 2018
Petition DENIED.
Oct 31 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/16/2018.
Oct 12 2018
Brief of respondents Michelle Markiewicz-Qualkinbush, et al. in opposition filed.
Sep 12 2018
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 15, 2018)