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Maricopa County, Arizona v. Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 16-16661 · judgment July 31, 2018

Certiorari denied · October 7, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and counsel who has filed here before.

Question presented

In the Ninth Circuit, the precepts of federalism often count for very little. They are, at most, but minor hurdles to be vaulted over by federal courts on their way to superimposing on State and local governmental institutions the courts’ preferences as to how those institutions should be structured and run. Here, the Ninth Circuit and the District Court have disregarded and misapplied Arizona law and this Court’s precedents to find Arizona’s sheriffs to be “final policymakers” for their respective counties and hold Maricopa County, Arizona (“the County”) responsible for law enforcement actions over which the County had no control. The courts below have saddled the County with substantial cost and other burdens for conduct of former Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio (“the Sheriff”) and his deputies found to have been contumacious, without regard to limitations on the County’s authority to provide such funding and without regard to legally condoned processes by which such funding could be obtained. Further, massive usurpations of the prerogatives of the Sheriff have been engineered and imposed, apparently on the theory that constitutional constraints on federal judicial disappear whenever the courts exercise their contempt powers. The questions presented are: 1. Applying the analytical mandates of McMillian v. Monroe County, Alabama, 520 U.S. 781 (1997), to county-level governmental institutions established under Arizona law, are sheriffs “final policymakers” under 42 U.S.C. §

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Richard K. Walker
Walker & Peskind, PLLC

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 7 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Oct 07 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jul 03 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/1/2019.
  3. Jun 19 2019
    Rescheduled.
  4. Jun 17 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2019.
  5. Jun 12 2019
    Rescheduled.
  6. Jun 10 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/13/2019.
  7. Jun 05 2019
    Rescheduled.
  8. Jun 03 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/6/2019.
  9. May 29 2019
    Rescheduled.
  10. May 28 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/30/2019.
  11. May 21 2019
    Rescheduled.
  12. May 20 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/23/2019.
  13. May 15 2019
    Rescheduled.
  14. May 02 2019
    Letter to Clerk re Notice of Change of Address of Maricopa County, Arizona not accepted for filing. (May 03, 2019 -- Document not of the type that is to be submitted electronically)
  15. Apr 30 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/16/2019.
  16. Apr 24 2019
    Reply of petitioner Maricopa County, Arizona filed.
  17. Apr 10 2019
    Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
  18. Mar 11 2019
    Brief of respondents Manuel De Jesus Melendres, et al. in opposition filed.
  19. Mar 07 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 10, 2019.
  20. Mar 06 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 11, 2019 to April 10, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  21. Feb 06 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 11, 2019, for all respondents.
  22. Feb 05 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 8, 2019 to March 11, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  23. Jan 08 2019
    The motions to extend the time to file responses are granted and the time is extended to and including February 8, 2019, for all respondents.
  24. Jan 07 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 9, 2019 to February 8, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  25. Jan 03 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 9, 2019 to February 8, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  26. Dec 06 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 9, 2019)