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Metropolitan Interpreters & Translators Inc. v. Francisco Bates, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 15-56647, 15-56658 · judgment August 3, 2018

Certiorari denied · February 19, 2019

Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

Whether the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (“EPPA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2001 et seq., which prohibits private employers from directly or indirectly requiring, requesting, suggesting, or causing any employee to submit to a polygraph examination, supersedes the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (“NISPOM”), which explicitly authorizes federal agencies to require polygraphs of employees of federal contractors to determine their eligibility for a security clearance.
Whether the rule proscribing judicial review of Executive Branch security clearance determinations announced by this Court in Department of Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518 (1988) extends to government contractors who assist the government in conducting polygraph examinations of the contractor’s employees to determine whether their security clearance should be revoked.

For petitioner
Raul Luis Martinez
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP

For respondent
Eugene G. Iredale
Iredale and Yoo, APC

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Feb 19 2019
Petition DENIED.
Jan 30 2019
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/15/2019.
Jan 25 2019
Reply of petitioner Metropolitan Interpreters & Translators, Inc. filed.
Jan 11 2019
Brief of respondents Francisco Bates, et al. in opposition filed.
Dec 10 2018
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 11, 2019)